We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.

John Stuart Mill

On Liberty

Buy On Liberty at Amazon Buy On Liberty at Amazon
Read On Liberty at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Suppression of speech Freedom of speech and expression

Author

John Stuart Mill

Source

On Liberty

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature Political literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Occupation

Philosopher Writer

From

United Kingdom Europe

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: J.W. Parker and Son, 1859, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Mill, John Stuart. "On Liberty." On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays, edited by Mark Philp and Frederick Rosen. Oxford University Press, 2015, ch. 2.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by John Stuart Mill about suppression of speech: “We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to…”
Download
A quote by John Stuart Mill about suppression of speech: “We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to…”
Download
A quote by John Stuart Mill about suppression of speech: “We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to…”
Download

Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1850s

All collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago.

Herman Melville

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

Buy Moby Dick at Amazon Buy Moby Dick at Amazon
Read Moby-Dick at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Ocean and sea

Author

Herman Melville
Source
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
Medium
Novel
Statement Type
Closing lines
Language
English
Time
1851 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. London: Richard Bentley/New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851, ch. 135.

Current Citation

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick or, The Whale. Penguin Classics, 2002, ch. 135.

Another quote from 1859

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: "And this, too, shall pass away."

Abraham Lincoln

More information about this quote
Topic
Equanimity
Speaker
Abraham Lincoln
Source
Address Before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1859 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Address Before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin." 30 Sept. 1859, Milwaukee, WI, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 30, 1859." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.