On Liberty (1978) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

• Marcus Aurelius: Add a description of this character.
• Bentham

Quotes edit see section history

• “The "people" who exercise the power are not always the same people with those over whom it is exercised; and the "self-government" spoken of is not the government of each by himself, but of each by all the rest.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (pp. 2-3). . Kindle Edition.”

• “The will of the people, moreover, practically means, the will of the most numerous or the most active part of the people; the majority, or those who succeed in making themselves accepted as the majority: the people, consequently, may desire to oppress a part of their number; and precautions are as much needed against this, as against any other abuse of power.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 3). . Kindle Edition.”

• “People are accustomed to believe, and have been encouraged in the belief by some who aspire to the character of philosophers, that their feelings, on subjects of this nature, are better than reasons, and render reasons unnecessary.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 4). . Kindle Edition.”

• “That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 6). . Kindle Edition.”

• “Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 7). . Kindle Edition.”

• “There are also many positive acts for the benefit of others, which he may rightfully be compelled to perform; such as, to give evidence in a court of justice; to bear his fair share in the common defence, or in any other joint work necessary to the interest of the society of which he enjoys the protection; and to perform certain acts of individual beneficence, such as saving a fellow-creature's life, or interposing to protect the defenceless against ill-usage, things which whenever it is obviously a man's duty to do, he may rightfully be made responsible to society for not doing.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 7). . Kindle Edition.”

• “A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 7). . Kindle Edition.”

• “This, then, is the appropriate region of human liberty. It comprises, first, the inward domain of consciousness; demanding liberty of conscience, in the most comprehensive sense; liberty of thought and feeling; absolute freedom of opinion and sentiment on all subjects, practical or speculative, scientific, moral, or theological.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 8). . Kindle Edition.”

• “The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental and spiritual. Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 8). . Kindle Edition.”

• “Society has expended fully as much effort in the attempt (according to its lights) to compel people to conform to its notions of personal, as of social excellence.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 9). . Kindle Edition.”

• “Apart from the peculiar tenets of individual thinkers, there is also in the world at large an increasing inclination to stretch unduly the powers of society over the individual, both by the force of opinion and even by that of legislation: and as the tendency of all the changes taking place in the world is to strengthen society, and diminish the power of the individual, this encroachment is not one of the evils which tend spontaneously to disappear, but, on the contrary, to grow more and more formidable.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 9). . Kindle Edition.”

• “it. If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 11). . Kindle Edition.”

• “But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 11). . Kindle Edition.”

• “Yet it is as evident in itself as any amount of argument can make it, that ages are no more infallible than individuals; every age having held many opinions which subsequent ages have deemed not only false but absurd; and it is as certain that many opinions, now general, will be rejected by future ages, as it is that many, once general, are rejected by the present.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 12). . Kindle Edition.”

• “But, indeed, the dictum that truth always triumphs over persecution, is one of those pleasant falsehoods which men repeat after one another till they pass into commonplaces, but which all experience refutes.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 19). . Kindle Edition.”

• “The real advantage which truth has, consists in this, that when an opinion is true, it may be extinguished once, twice, or many times, but in the course of ages there will generally be found persons to rediscover it, until some one of its reappearances falls on a time when from favourable circumstances it escapes persecution until it has made such head as to withstand all subsequent attempts to suppress it.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 19). . Kindle Edition.”

• “He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side; if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 24). . Kindle Edition.”

• “The loss of so important an aid to the intelligent and living apprehension of a truth, as is afforded by the necessity of explaining it to, or defending it against, opponents, though not sufficient to outweigh, is no trifling drawback from, the benefit of its universal recognition.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 29). . Kindle Edition.”

• “still remains to speak of one of the principal causes which make diversity of opinion advantageous, and will continue to do so until mankind shall have entered a stage of intellectual advancement which at present seems at an incalculable distance.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 30). . Kindle Edition.”

• “When there are persons to be found, who form an exception to the apparent unanimity of the world on any subject, even if the world is in the right, it is always probable that dissentients have something worth hearing to say for themselves, and that truth would lose something by their silence.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 32). . Kindle Edition.”

• “Not the violent conflict between parts of the truth, but the quiet suppression of half of it, is the formidable evil: there is always hope when people are forced to listen to both sides; it is when they attend only to one that errors harden into prejudices, and truth itself ceases to have the effect of truth, by being exaggerated into falsehood.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 34). . Kindle Edition.”

• “And since there are few mental attributes more rare than that judicial faculty which can sit in intelligent judgment between two sides of a question, of which only one is represented by an advocate before it, truth has no chance but in proportion as every side of it, every opinion which embodies any fraction of the truth, not only finds advocates, but is so advocated as to be listened to.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (pp. 34-35). . Kindle Edition.”

• “Before quitting the subject of freedom of opinion, it is fit to take some notice of those who say, that the free expression of all opinions should be permitted, on condition that the manner be temperate, and do not pass the bounds of fair discussion.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 35). . Kindle Edition.”

• “A civilisation that can thus succumb to its vanquished enemy, must first have become so degenerate, that neither its appointed priests and teachers, nor anybody else, has the capacity, or will take the trouble, to stand up for it. If this be so, the sooner such a civilisation receives notice to quit, the better. It can only go on from bad to worse, until destroyed and regenerated (like the Western Empire) by energetic barbarians.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 65). . Kindle Edition.”

• “The first is, when the thing to be done is likely to be better done by individuals than by the government.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 77). . Kindle Edition.”

• “In many cases, though individuals may not do the particular thing so well, on the average, as the officers of government, it is nevertheless desirable that it should be done by them, rather than by the government, as a means to their own mental education—a mode of strengthening their active faculties, exercising their judgment, and giving them a familiar knowledge of the subjects with which they are thus left to deal.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 78). . Kindle Edition.”

• “The third, and most cogent reason for restricting the interference of government, is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power. Every function superadded to those already exercised by the government, causes its influence over hopes and fears to be more widely diffused, and converts, more and more, the active and ambitious part of the public into hangers-on of the government, or of some party which aims at becoming the government.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 78). . Kindle Edition.”

• “The mischief begins when, instead of calling forth the activity and powers of individuals and bodies, it substitutes its own activity for theirs; when, instead of informing, advising, and, upon occasion, denouncing, it makes them work in fetters, or bids them stand aside and does their work instead of them.Mill, John Stuart (2011-03-30). On Liberty (p. 82). . Kindle Edition.”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• England
• Europe

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. John Stuart Mill (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Elizabeth Rapaport (Editor) - and Editor's Introduction

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 323.44

Subjects edit see section history

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