"Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. 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 it. In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while. The principle of utility recognizes this subjection, and assumes it for the foundation of that system, the object of which is to rear the fabric of felicity by the hands of reason and of law. Systems which attempt to question it, deal in sounds instead of sense, in caprice instead of reason, in darkness instead of light."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Historians from EnglandAcademics from EnglandPhilosophers from EnglandHuman rights activistsLogicians from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ch. 1: Of the Principle of Utility
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Jeremy Bentham
1748 – 1832
englischer Philosoph und Jurist
63 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Jeremy Bentham →
Related Quotes
"The day may come when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been witholden …"
"Figure to yourself the mixture of surprise and delight which has this instant been poured into my mind by the sound o…"
"It is the principle of antipathy which leads us to speak of offences as deserving punishment. It is the corresponding…"
"Create all the happiness you are able to create: remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow y…"
"To what shall the character of utility be ascribed, if not to that which is a source of pleasure?"
"It is part of a work to which if ever it should be completed I intend to give some such title as Principles of Legal …"
"Priestley was the first (unless it was Beccaria) who taught my lips to pronounce this sacred truth — that the greates…"
"Want keeps pace with dignity. Destitute of the lawful means of supporting his rank, his dignity presents a motive for…"
"Judges of elegance and taste consider themselves as benefactors to the human race, whilst they are really only the in…"
"Ah! when will the yoke of Custom—Custom, the blind tyrant, of which all other tyrants make their slave—ah! when will …"