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.
Jeremy BenthamRead
The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Morality and laws should prioritize the happiness of the majority.
This quote by Jeremy Bentham emphasizes the principle of utilitarianism, suggesting that the best action or law is the one that produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. It underlines the idea that both morality and legislation should be guided by their consequences on collective well-being, making societal happiness a paramount concern.
Themes
HappinessMoralsLegislationUtilitarianismGreatest Number
In practice
Example use cases
This quote may be used in a political debate to highlight the importance of policies that serve the majority.
More from Jeremy Bentham
All quotes βCreate all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you, --will invite you to add something to the pleasure of others, --or to diminish something of their pains.
Jeremy BenthamRead
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 it.
Jeremy BenthamRead
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.
Jeremy BenthamRead
It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong.
Jeremy BenthamRead
Tyranny and anarchy are never far apart.
Jeremy BenthamRead
Similar quotes
There is something about the state putting the power to bully into the hands of subnormal, sadistic apes that makes my blood boil.
Gore VidalRead
Sentient beings, self and others, enemies and dear ones-all are made by thoughts. It is like seeing a rope and mistaking it for a snake. When we think that the rope is a snake, we are scared, but once we see that we are looking at a rope, our fear dissipates. We have been deluded by our thoughts. Likewise, mentally fabricating self and others, we generate attachment and aversion.
Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheRead
Neither fear your death's day nor long for it.
MartialRead
In every man's mind the good seeds of liberty are planted, and he who brings his fellow down so low, as to make him contented with a condition of slavery, commits the highest crime against God and man.
Henry Highland GarnetRead
Although a biologist, I must confess I do not understand how life came about... I consider that life only starts at the level of a functional cell. The most primitive cells may require at least several hundred different specific biological macro-molecules. How such already quite complex structures may have come together, remains a mystery to me. The possibility of the existence of a Creator, of God, represents to me a satisfactory solution to this problem.
Werner ArberRead
There either is or is not, thatβs the way things are. The colour of the day. The way it felt to be a child. The saltwater on your sunburnt legs. Sometimes the water is yellow, sometimes itβs red. But what colour it may be in memory, depends on the day. Iβm not going to tell you the story the way it happened. Iβm going to tell it the way I remember it.
Charles DickensRead