“It is the principle of necessity towards which, as to their ultimate centre, all the ideas advanced in this essay immediately converge. In abstract theory the limits of this necessity are determined solely by considerations of man’s proper nature as a human being; but in the application we have to regard, in addition, the individuality of man as he actually exists. This principle of necessity should, I think, prescribe the grand fundamental rule to which every effort to act on human beings and their manifold relations should be invariably conformed. For it is the only thing which conducts to certain and unquestionable results. The consideration of the useful, which might be opposed to it, does not admit of any true and unswerving decision.”

— Wilhelm Von Humboldt

The Limits of State Action (1792)

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Wilhelm Von Humboldt 35

German (Prussian) philosopher, government functionary, dipl… 1767–1835

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Source: The Limits of State Action (1792), Ch. 6
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