“All those to whom I looked up, were of opinion that the pleasure of sympathy with human beings, and the feelings which made the good of others, and especially of mankind on a large scale, the object of existence, were the greatest and surest sources of happiness. Of the truth of this I was convinced, but to know that a feeling would make me happy if I had it, did not give me the feeling.”

—  John Stuart Mill, book Autobiography

Source: https://archive.org/details/autobiography01mill/page/138/mode/1up p. 138

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John Stuart Mill179
British philosopher and political economist 1806–1873

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