The principles which men profess on any controverted subject are usually a very incomplete exponent of the opinions they really hold.
Interpretation
People often express incomplete or misleading views on controversial topics, revealing only part of their true beliefs.
John Stuart Mill's quote suggests that the opinions people express on contentious issues rarely capture the full complexity of their true beliefs. In discussions about controversial topics, individuals may feel compelled to present a simplified version of their opinions, either due to social pressure or fear of disagreement, leading to a disconnect between what they state and what they genuinely think.
In practice
In a debate, this quote can remind participants to consider the underlying beliefs behind each other's arguments.
The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.
As for charity, it is a matter in which the immediate effect on the persons directly concerned, and the ultimate consequence to the general good, are apt to be at complete war with one another.
To think that because those who wield power in society wield in the end that of government, therefore it is of no use to attempt to influence the constitution of the government by acting on opinion, is to forget that opinion is itself one of the greatest active social forces. One person with a belief is a social power equal to ninety-nine who have only interests.
There should be perfect freedom, legal and social, to do the action and stand the consequences. It would be a great misunderstanding of this doctrine to suppose that it is one of selfish indifference, which pretends that human beings have no business with each other's conduct in life, and that they should not concern themselves about the well-doing or well-being of one another, unless their own interest is involved.
Political Economy, in truth, has never pretended to give advice to mankind with no lights but its own; though people who knew nothing but political economy (and therefore knew it ill) have taken upon themselves to advise, and could only do so by such lights as they had.
Marriage is the only actual bondage known to our law. There remain no legal slaves, except the mistress of every house.
The Lord has blessed you with a testimony of the truth. You have felt His influence and witnessed His power. And if you continue to seek Him, He will continue to grant you sacred experiences. With these and other spiritual gifts, you will be able not only to change your own life for the better but also to bless your homes, wards or branches, communities, cities, states, and nations with your goodness.
People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.
I have no predilection for unpopularity as such, but I hold it much preferable to the popularity of a day, which perishes with the transient topic upon which it is grounded.
Yet seldom do they fail of their seed, And that will lie in the dust and rot to spring up again in times and places unlooked-for. The deeds of Men will outlast us.
It is very significant that some of the most thoughtful and cultured men are partisans of a pure vegetable diet
Psychology is ultimately mythology, the study of the stories of the soul.
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