The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.
John Stuart Mill On Liberty, Chapter V, Applications (1859)
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When and why it was written
- When
- The closing argument of On Liberty, 1859.
- Why
- Mill is warning against governments that make citizens smaller in order to manage them.
What it means
Mill measures a society by the people in it, not its machinery. Grow the people and the state grows.
The same is true of any group: it is only as good as the people who make it up.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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On Liberty, 1859
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