'Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.' -John Stuart Mill On Liberty presented one of the most eloquent defenses of individual freedom in nineteenth-century social and political philosophy and is today perhaps the most widely-read liberal argument in support of the value of liberty. Mill's passionate advocacy of spontaneity, individuality, and diversity, along with his contempt for compulsory uniformity and the despotism of popular opinion, has attracted both admiration and condemnation. On Liberty was a greatly influential and well-received work. The ideas presented in On Liberty have remained the basis of much political thought.