- Lived:
- 1806–1873 · London and Avignon
- Tradition:
- British empiricism and liberalism; utilitarianism, humanized
- The Big Idea:
- Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign — society may stop you from harming others, but never force you to be "better" for your own good.
- In their words:
- "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied."
- If you remember one thing:
- Mill was manufactured from birth to be the perfect reasoning machine, broke down at twenty when he realized the machine had no heart — and rebuilt himself into the philosopher who taught the modern world what freedom is for.