The fatal tendency of mankind to leave off thinking about a thing when it is no longer doubtful is the cause of half their errors.

No longer enslaved or made dependent by force of law, the great majority are so by force of property; they are still chained to a place, to an occupation, and to conformity with the will of an employer, and debarred by the accident of birth to both the enjoyments, and from the mental and moral advantages, which others inherit without exertion and independently of desert. That this is an evil equal to almost any of those against which mankind have hitherto struggles, the poor are not wrong in believing.

The worth of the state, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.

There is an imaginary circle drawn around every human being, over which no government should be able to step.

It is given to no human being to stereotype a set of truths, and walk safely by their guidance with his mind's eye closed.

There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence: and to find that limit, and maintain it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good condition of human affairs, as protection against political despotism.

The maxim is, that whatever can be affirmed (or denied) of a class, may be affirmed (or denied) of everything included in the class. This axiom, supposed to be the basis of the syllogistic theory, is termed by logicians the dictum de omni et nullo.