Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practises a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression...

John Stuart Mill
About This Quote

This quote is by the French essayist, historian, and moralist Alexis de Tocqueville. He was careful to distinguish between “tyranny” and “freedom.” Tyranny is the rule of one person over another, but freedom is the rule of one individual over everyone else. He believed that tyranny was not possible in modern society; however, he also believed it could be achieved by the majority if they had the will to do so.

Source: On Liberty

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