“Their worship was not paid to the demon which such a being as they imagined would really be, but to their own idea of excellence. The evil is, that such a belief keeps the ideal wretchedly low; and opposes the most obstinate resistance to all thought which has a tendency to raise it higher. Believers shrink from every train of ideas which would lead the mind to a clear conception and an elevated standard of excellence, because they feel (even when they do not distinctly see) that such a standard would conflict with many of the dispensations of nature, and with much of what they are accustomed to consider as the Christian creed.”

— John Stuart Mill , book Autobiography

Source: Autobiography (1873)

https://archive.org/details/autobiography01mill/page/42/mode/1up p. 42

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John Stuart Mill 179

British philosopher and political economist 1806–1873

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