Whenever government assumes to deliver us from the trouble of thinking for ourselves, the only consequences it produces are those of torpor and imbecility.
Above all we should not forget, that government is an evil, an usurpation upon the private judgment and individual conscience of mankind.
He that loves reading has everything within his reach.
If he who employs coercion against me could mould me to his purposes by argument, no doubt he would. He pretends to punish me because his argument is strong; but he really punishes me because his argument is weak.
What indeed is life, unless so far as it is enjoyed? It does not merit the name.
No man must encroach upon my province, nor I upon his. He may advise me, moderately and without pertinaciousness, but he must not expect to dictate to me. He may censure me freely and without reserve; but he should remember that I am to act by my deliberation and not his. I ought to exercise my talents for the benefit of others; but that exercise must be the fruit of my own conviction; no man must attempt to press me into the service.
Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny.
The wise man is satisfied with nothing.
We cannot perform our tasks to the best of our power, unless we think well of our own capacity.
Government can have no more than two legitimate purposes - the suppression of injustice against individuals within the community, and the common defense against external invasion.
Books gratify and excite our curiosity in innumerable ways.
Make men wise, and by that very operation you make them free. Civil liberty follows as a consequence of this; no usurped power can stand against the artillery of opinion.
The proper method for hastening the decay of error, is not, by brute force, or by regulation which is one of the classes of force, to endeavour to reduce men to intellectual uniformity; but on the contrary by teaching every man to think for himself.
As the true object of education is not to render the pupil the mere copy of his preceptor, it is rather to be rejoiced in, than lamented, that various reading should lead him into new trains of thinking.
Hereditary wealth is in reality a premium paid to idleness.
Self-respect to be nourished in the mind of the pupil, is one of the most valuable results of a well conducted education.
Perfectibility is one of the most unequivocal characteristics of the human species.
In a well-written book we are presented with the maturest reflections, or the happiest flights of a mind of uncommon excellence. It is impossible that we can be much accustomed to such companions without attaining some resemblance to them.
Power is not happiness.
Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny.... An attempt to scrutinize men's thoughts and punish their opinions is of all kinds of despotism the most odious: yet this is peculiarly character of a period of revolution.... There is no period more at war with the existence of liberty.
We are so curiously made that one atom put in the wrong place in our original structure will often make us unhappy for life.
The great model of the affection of love in human beings is the sentiment which subsists between parents and children.
Every man has a certain sphere of discretion which he has a right to expect shall not be infringed by his neighbours. This right flows from the very nature of man.
God himself has no right to be a tyrant.
Duty is that mode of action on the part of the individual which constitutes the best possible application of his capacity to the general benefit.
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