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What is the Seal of Liberty Attained?—To be no longer ashamed of oneself.
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“What is the Seal of Liberty Attained?—To be no longer ashamed of oneself.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

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Source
The Joyful Wisdom
Date
1910
English wording
Thomas Common — Translator; Paul V. Cohn — Poetry renderer; Maude D. Petre — Poetry renderer · from German
Meaning

Meaning of “What is the Seal of Liberty Attained?—To be…”

Nietzsche links attained freedom with release from self-shame, framing liberty as partly an inward change in one’s relation to oneself.

Source context

Where does it come from?

The Joyful Wisdom, aphorism 275; Thomas Common translation.

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Be YourselfBoundariesDeepFreedomIdentityIndependenceMindPhilosophySelf RelianceSelf TrustSelf-Respect Quotes About Dignity & BoundariesShortThinking Quotes About Reasoning, Reflection & JudgmentThought-Provoking Quotes That Invite Reflection
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But why, my dear Crito, should we care about the opinion of the many?
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“But why, my dear Crito, should we care about the opinion of the many?”

Plato · Crito · c. 399 BCE
Voice: Dialogue speaker · Socrates
Meaning & context

Socrates challenges the idea that widespread approval should decide a moral question, directing attention toward informed judgment rather than numerical popularity.

Source details

Crito, Benjamin Jowett translation; Socrates responds to Crito’s concern about public opinion while awaiting execution.

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What Saith thy Conscience?—“Thou shalt become what thou art.”
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“What Saith thy Conscience?—“Thou shalt become what thou art.””

Friedrich Nietzsche · The Joyful Wisdom · 1910
Meaning & context

The line frames conscience as a demand to develop into one’s own character rather than merely conforming to an externally supplied identity.

Source details

The Joyful Wisdom, aphorism 270; Thomas Common translation. The formula has a longer classical and Nietzschean history, so this record is tied specifically to this occurrence.

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Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.
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“Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.”

John Stuart Mill · On Liberty · 1859
Meaning & context

Mill draws a boundary around mature individual self-government: social power requires justification when it coerces a person in matters that principally concern that person rather than preventing harm to others.

Source details

On Liberty, Chapter I, Project Gutenberg #34901. This sentence follows Mill’s harm-principle formulation and belongs to a political-philosophical argument about the legitimate limits of social and legal interference. It is not a claim that every private action has no effects or obligations toward other people.

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They must only bow to the authority of reason, instead of being the modest slaves of opinion.
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“They must only bow to the authority of reason, instead of being the modest slaves of opinion.”

Mary Wollstonecraft · A Vindication of the Rights of Woman · 1792
Meaning & context

Respectability is grounded in independent reasoning rather than deference to social opinion, making judgment more important than approval.

Source details

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman; Wollstonecraft explicitly connects independence of character with the exercise of understanding.

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It is not selfish to think for oneself.
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“It is not selfish to think for oneself.”

Oscar Wilde · The Soul of Man under Socialism · 1891
Meaning & context

Independent thought is distinguished from selfishness: forming one’s own judgment can protect individuality without requiring indifference to other people.

Source details

The Soul of Man under Socialism; Wilde defends individual thought while criticizing social pressure that mistakes conformity for moral virtue.

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