Christian morality (so called) has all the characters of a reaction; it is, in great part, a protest against Paganism. Its ideal is negative rather than positive; passive rather than action; innocence rather than Nobleness; Abstinence from Evil, rather than energetic Pursuit of Good: in its precepts (as has been well said) "thou shalt not" predominates unduly over "thou shalt.

During his time as an MP Mill advocated easing the burdens on Ireland. In 1866 Mill became the first person in the history of Parliament to call for women to be given the right to vote vigorously defending this position in subsequent debate. And as most opinions are neither completely true nor completely false he points out that allowing free expression allows the airing of competing views as a way to preserve partial truth in various opinions.

He was a proponent of utilitarianism an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham. Mill's conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control.