Finally, Mill’s words remain strikingly current in a world that often equates well-being with convenience. Endless entertainment, algorithmic ease, and consumer comfort can keep people satisfied at a shallow level, yet many still feel intellectually or morally undernourished. Mill would likely say that this unrest is not merely a problem to eliminate but a sign that human aspirations reach beyond comfort.
For that reason, the quotation endures as both warning and encouragement. It warns against mistaking passive contentment for a fully good life, and it encourages us to accept certain forms of dissatisfaction as evidence of growth. To be troubled by truth, beauty, or justice may be painful, but for Mill it is also a mark of a life lived on a distinctly human plane. [...]
