Jeremy Bentham Quotes (24 Quotes)

It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong.

Nature has placed mankind under the government of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure - they govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve but to demonstrate and confirm

The principle of asceticism never was, nor ever can be, consistently pursued by any living creature. Let but one tenth part of the inhabitants of the earth pursue it consistently, and in a day's time they will have turned it into a Hell.

No power of government ought to be employed in the endeavor to establish any system or article of belief on the subject of religion.

The power of the lawyer is in the uncertainty of the law.

Stretching his hand up to reach the stars, too often man forgets the flowers at his feet.

As to the evil which results from a censorship, it is impossible to measure it, for it is impossible to tell where it ends.

Tyranny and anarchy are never far asunder.

The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?"

Every law is an infraction of liberty.

All punishment is mischief; all punishment in itself is evil.

Lawyers are the only persons in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.

The solar industry needs stable markets. With fair and good incentives we can have solar power competitive in ten year's time.

Kind words cost no more than unkind ones ... and we may scatter the seeds of courtesy and kindliness around us at so little expense. If you would fall into any extreme let it be on the side of gentleness. The human mind is so constructed that it resists vigor and yields to softness.

It is vain to talk of the interest of the community, without understanding what is the interest of the individual.

The day may come when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of tyranny.

The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.

He who thinks and thinks for himself, will always have a claim to thanks; it is no matter whether it be right or wrong, so as it be explicit. If it is right, it will serve as a guide to direct; if wrong, as a beacon to warn.

O Logic born gatekeeper to the Temple of Science, victim of capricious destiny doomed hitherto to be the drudge of pedants come to the aid of thy master, Legislation.

The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.

Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government.

All government is a trust. Every branch of government is a trust, and immemorially acknowledged to be so.

The age we live in is a busy age; in which knowledge is rapidly advancing towards perfection.

Tyranny and anarchy are never far apart.