Edmund Clerihew Bentley: John Stewart Mill
on Tuesday, July 10, 2018Edmund Clerihew Bentley Money Quote saying from his book ‘Biography for Beginners’ (1905) that John Stewart Mill was cranky about the political economy. Edmund Clerihew Bentley said:
“John Stuart Mill, By a mighty effort of will, Overcame his natural bonhomie And wrote ‘Principles of Political Economy'” — Edmund Clerihew Bentley
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In this quote, Edmund Clerihew Bentley is playfully commenting on the philosopher John Stuart Mill’s process of writing his influential book “Principles of Political Economy”. Bentley suggests that Mill had to exert tremendous willpower and self-discipline (“by a mighty effort of will”) to overcome his normally cheerful and sociable nature (“natural bonhomie”) in order to seriously tackle the complex subject matter of political economy and produce such an important work.
The quote portrays Mill as having to suppress his more congenial inclinations to deeply focus and channel his intellectual energies into writing about serious economic theories and principles. Overall, Bentley is painting a lighthearted picture of the effort required for Mill to author such an influential text.
#NationalClerihewDay July 9