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It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question. Poverty implies suffering.

It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question. Poverty implies suffering.

Approximate author period: c. 1839 AD · industrial

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
John Stuart Mill
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1839 AD · industrial
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1806 to 1873; Wikidata Q50020, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q50020 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Contributor-provided wisdom reference (2014 AD)

Supplied reference B; unit 1033; PDF page 101; printed attribution: John Stuart Mill

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.