John Stuart Mill · 640 pages
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“Protection, therefore, against tyranny of the magistrate is not enough: there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling; against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them; to fetter the development, and, if possible, prevent the formation, of any individuality not in harmony with its ways, and compel all characters to fashion themselves upon the model of its own.”
― John Stuart Mill, quote from On Liberty and Other Essays
“But reflecting persons perceived that when society is itself the tyrant—society collectively, over the separate individuals who compose it—its means of tyrannizing are not restricted to the acts which it may do by the hands of its political functionaries. Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practises a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself.”
― John Stuart Mill, quote from On Liberty and Other Essays
“On the average, a person who cares for other people, for his country, or for mankind, is a happier man than one who does not; but of what use is it to preach this doctrine to a man who cares for nothing but his own ease, or his own pocket? He cannot care for other people if he would. It is like preaching to the worm who crawls on the ground, how much better it would be for him if he were an eagle.”
― John Stuart Mill, quote from On Liberty and Other Essays
“Governments must be made for human beings as they are, or as they are capable of speedily becoming.”
― John Stuart Mill, quote from On Liberty and Other Essays
“is the absolute and essential importance of human development in its richest diversity.”
― John Stuart Mill, quote from On Liberty and Other Essays
“Just ’cause she’s farting through silk doesn’t mean she can shit on people who don’t have any money.”
― Katherine Pancol, quote from The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles
“Well, I go wherever the ring takes me. Not because I’m a gold digger or anything; it’s more of a Lord of the Rings thing. This ring gives me powers. Though I’m totally going to lose it when my hair falls out and I start calling it ‘my precious.”
― Cindi Madsen, quote from Falling for Her Fiance
“We figured we would save you from having to turn down any more guys trying to buy you drinks,” Mark said, tossing a peanut into his mouth.
“It’s the least you could do, since thanks to you I actually am under the influence now, Mr. there are people going to bed sober tonight all over the world.”
“Hey, it’s not my problem you’re a lightweight,” he teased. “I didn’t force you to chug those two cups of beer, Animal.”
“I can’t wait to hear what she has to say when she’s been drinking,” Adam joked.
“Perhaps I’ll just sit here quietly and be entertained by your sparkling wit,” I said and started torturing a napkin in a way that it had done nothing to deserve.”
― N.M. Silber, quote from The Law of Attraction
“Sometimes I think it must have been nice to be alive in the days where everyone knew that Faerie existed. Sure, bands of angry humans sometimes tried to kill us with iron and fire, but nobody questioned where we wanted to celebrate the seasons.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from The Winter Long
“You know…the kiss. The one you feel through your whole body as soon as your lips touch theirs and everything that is going on around you falls away. You could be in the busiest, noisiest place but everything becomes silent and time seems to stand still. It’s as if, in that moment, you’re the only two people on the planet. It’s that one kiss that you will remember for the rest of your life and you will never have another one like it unless it’s with that same person because it was the kiss.”
― K.C. Lynn, quote from Resisting Temptation
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