Those who opine lose their impunity when the circumstances in which
they pontificate are such that generate from their expression a positive
instigation of some mischievous act. An opinion that corn dealers are
starvers of the poor, or that owning private property is robbery, ought to
be unmolested when simply circulated through the press, but may justly
incur punishment when delivered orally to an excited mob assembled
before the house of a corn dealer, or when handed about among the
same mob in the form of a placard. Acts, of whatever kind, which without
justifiable cause do harm to others, may be, and in the more important
cases are absolutely required to be, controlled by the unfavourable
sentiments, and, when needful, by the active interference of mankind.
The liberty of the individual must be thus far limited; he must not make
himself a nuisance to other people. But if he refrains from molesting
others in matters that concern them, and merely acts according to his
own inclination and judgment in matters which concern himself he should
be allowed, without molestation, to carry his opinions into practice at his
own cost. As it is useful that while mankind are imperfect there should be
different opinions, so it is that there should be different experiments of
living, that free scope should be given to varieties of character, short of
injury to others, and that the worth of different modes of life should be
proved practically, when anyone thinks fit to try them. Where not the
persones own character but the traditions and customs of other people
are the rule of conduct, there is wanting one of the principal ingredients
of individual and social progress.
It would be absurd to pretend that people ought to live as if nothing
whatever had been known in the world before they came into it; as if
experience had as yet done nothing toward showing that one mode of
existence, or of conduct, is preferable to another. Nobody denies that
people should be so taught and trained in youth as to know and benefit
by the ascertained results of human experience. But it is the privilege and
proper condition of a human being, arrived at the maturity of his
faculties, to use and interpret experience in his own way. It is for him to
find out what part of recorded experience is properly applicable to his
own circumstances and character. The traditions and customs of other
people are, to a certain extent, evidence of what their experience has
taught them.presumptive evidence, and as such, have a claim to his
deference.but, in the first place, their experience may be too narrow, or
they may have not interpreted it rightly. Secondly, their interpretation of
experience may be correct, but unsuited to him. Customs are made for
customary circumstances and customary characters, and his
circumstances or his character may be uncustomary. Thirdly, though the
customs be both good as customs and suitable to him, yet to conform to
custom merely as custom does not educate him or develop in him any of
the qualities which are the distinctive endowments of a human being. He
gains no practice either in discerning or desiring what is best.

1. Based on information in the passage, with which of the following statements
about opinions would the author most likely NOT disagree?
A. Different opinions exist because people are imperfect.
B. An opinion can be relatively harmless in one context and dangerous in
another.
C. Opinions directed specifically against fellow human beings should be
punished.
D. All expressions of opinion should really be considered actions.
E. An opinion always has an additional unintended effect
2. The author holds that one should not necessarily defer to the traditions and
customs of other people. The author supports his position by arguing that:
I. traditions and customs are usually the result of misinterpreted
experiences.
II. customs are based on experiences in the past, which are different from
modern experiences.
III. customs can stifle onees individual development.
A. II only
B. III only
C. I and III only
D. II and III only
E. None of the above
3. The existence of which of the following phenomena would most strongly
challenge the authores argument about \conforming to custom merely as
custom.?
A. A class in morality taught at a parochial high school
B. An important discovery made by a researcher who uses
unconventional methods
C. A culture in which it is traditional to let children make their own
decisions
D. A custom that involves celebrating a noteworthy historical event
E. a culture in which only the senior-most person takes the important
decisions

I would go with

1 A
2 B
3 C

Any guru : pontification reqd here !!