On Liberty

John Stuart Mill, 1859

John Stuart Mill’s essay on the limits of the power that society may rightly exercise over the individual, defending freedom of thought and discussion and holding that only harm to others justifies interference.

Start reading7 chapters, about 47,000 words

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The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.
Ch. 1: IntroductoryIn context
- Government
- Liberty
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.
Chapter IIn context
- Freedom
- Liberty
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.
Chapter II (1 of 2)In context
- Debate
- Freedom
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.
Chapter II (1 of 2)In context
- Debate
- Truth & Lies
To refuse a hearing to an opinion, because they are sure that it is false, is to assume that their certainty is the same thing as absolute certainty. All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.
Chapter II (1 of 2)In context
- Debate
- Freedom
No one can be a great thinker who does not recognise, that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead.
Ch. II: Of the Liberty of Thought and DiscussionIn context
- Thinking
Truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think.
Ch. II: Of the Liberty of Thought and DiscussionIn context
- Thinking
- Truth & Lies
However unwillingly a person who has a strong opinion may admit the possibility that his opinion may be false, he ought to be moved by the consideration that however true it may be, if it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth.
Chapter II (1 of 2)In context
- Debate
- Truth & Lies
Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces which make it a living thing.
Chapter IIIIn context
- Character
It is not because men’s desires are strong that they act ill; it is because their consciences are weak.
In context
- Morality
Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called, and whether it professes to be enforcing the will of God or the injunctions of men.
Ch. III: Of Individuality, As One of the Elements of Well-BeingIn context
- Liberty
- Power

Dedication
Chapter IIntroductory
Chapter II (1 of 2)Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion
Chapter II (2 of 2)
Chapter IIIOf Individuality, as One of the Elements of Well-Being
Chapter IVOf the Limits to the Authority of Society Over the Individual
Chapter VApplications

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