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.
War is an ugly thing， but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war， is much worse.
The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our way， so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs or impede their efforts to obtain it.
Society can and does execute its own mandates， and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right， or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle， it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression， since， though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties， it leaves fewer means of escape， penetrating much more deeply into the details of life， and enslaving the soul itself.
The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and they who have so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but their own dispositions will waste their lives in fruitless efforts.
