"No one can be a great thinker who does not recognize, that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead."

"The government of a people by itself has a meaning and a reality, but only when the 'itself' is composed of all the people, and the 'government' is the government of all by all."

"In the case of any person whose conduct affects prejudicially the interests of others, there is no room for the argument that he should be allowed to do as he likes, because it is his own affair."

"That 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."

"The object of this Essay is to assert one very simple principle, as entitled to govern absolutely the dealings of society with the individual in the way of compulsion and control, whether the means us…"