It is indisputable that the being whose capacities of enjoyment are low, has the greatest chance of having them fully satisfied; and a highly endowed being will always feel that any happiness which he can look for, as the world is constituted, is imperfect. But he can learn to bear its imperfections, if they are at all bearable; and they will not make him envy the being who is indeed unconscious of the imperfections, but only because he feels not at all the good which those imperfections qualify. dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is only because they only know their own side of the question.
capacity enjoyment fool happiness imperfections philosophy satisfaction socrates
Download Image Share on X Share on Facebook

About This Quote

About John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill was a 19th-century English philosopher and author. John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism and social liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory, and political economy. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • Happiness — Thoughts on finding joy, contentment, and fulfilment
  • Philosophy — Deep thoughts on existence, knowledge, and the nature of reality

More quotes by John Stuart Mill

“It is not good for man to be kept perforce at all times in the presence of his species. A world from which solitude is extirpated is a very poor ideal. Solitude, in the sense of being often alone, ...”
— John Stuart Mill
economics environment life philosophy

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse. When a people are used as...”
— John Stuart Mill
ethics fight foreign-policy injustice

“The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest-Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend t...”
— John Stuart Mill
ethics greatest-happiness-principle moral-philosophy pain

“The art of music is good, for the reason, among others, that it produces pleasure; but what proof is it possible to give that pleasure is good? If, then, it is asserted that there is a comprehensiv...”
— John Stuart Mill
arts leisure music philosophy

“I believe in spectacles, but I think eyes necessary too.”
— John Stuart Mill
philosophy poetry science

“religion, the most powerful of the elements which have entered into the formation of moral feeling, having almost always been governed either by the ambition of a hierarchy, seeking control over ev...”
— John Stuart Mill
philosophy political-philosophy
View all quotes by John Stuart Mill →

Related Quotes

“We all have the capacity to find the will to do what must be done - even when that which we must do terrifies us most. Remember this.”
— Jessica Shirvington, Enticed
capacity choice fear

“The mind of man is capable of anything - because everything is in it, all the past as well as the future.”
— Joseph Conrad
capacity future imagination mind

“Our capacity can grow or diminish, and either way, the results compound over time.”
— Audrey Moralez
capacity development growth leadership

“Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.”
— J.M. Barrie
enjoyment perspective work

“These examples suggest what one needs to learn to control attention. In principle any skill or discipline one can master on ones own will serve: meditation and prayer if one is so inclined; exercis...”
— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
enjoyment happiness

“The joy from eating does not come from the exclusivity of the food, but instead from the sensitivity that we eat it with.”
— Nino Gruettke, BOTH of You: Behavior. Opinion. Thinking. Happiness - The more rational we are, the more emotional we can be.
enjoyment food happiness positive-thinking

“I still believe that peace and plenty and happiness can be worked out some way. I am a fool.”
— Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
fool happiness jailbird peace

“She doesn't need your money. Even a penniless fool like you can make her fall in love with you. That's just miracle.”
— Vann Chow, Shanghai Nobody
fool happiness love love-fool

“And the world re-ordered itself around me. I spoke each word carefully. 'You are so stupid.”
— Robin Hobb, Assassin's Fate
fool pain sorrow stupid