“A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.”

Source: On Liberty

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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John Stuart Mill179

British philosopher and political economist 1806–1873

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Context: A person is strong only when he stands upon his own truth, when he speaks and acts from his deepest convictions. Then, whatever the situation he may be in, he always knows what he must say and do. He may fall, but he cannot bring shame upon himself or his cause. If we seek the liberation of the people by means of a lie, we will surely grow confused, go astray, and lose sight of our objective, and if we have any influence at all on the people we will lead them astray as well — in other words, we will be acting in the spirit of reaction and to its benefit.

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Source: The Science of Rights 1796, P. 247

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Source: The Bourgeois: Catholicism vs. Capitalism in Eighteenth-Century France (1927), pp. 119-120

“A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.”

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John Stuart Mill179

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