In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time. β¨ John Stuart Mill (2003). Mill's On Liberty, p.81, Agora Publications, Inc.
More Author Quotes
- A party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life. β¨ 'On Liberty' (1859) ch. 2
- So true is that unnatural generally means only uncustomary, and that everything which is usual appears natural. β¨ John Stuart Mill (1870). The Subjection of Women, p.22, Hayes Barton Press
- No great improvements in the lot of mankind are possible until a great change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought. β¨ 'Autobiography' (1873) ch. 7
- I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant, that stupid persons are generally Conservative. I believe that to be so obvious and undeniable a fact that I hardly think any hon. Gen β¦ βΆ
- 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 majori β¦ βΆ
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