Jeremy Bentham

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

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.

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

The public good ought to be the object of the legislator: the utility of the public, the motive of the legislator.

The more extensive the liberty of the press, the more extensive the security of the people.

All government is a trust.

The cat is a good judge of cream.

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

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

Stare decisis, or the doctrine of precedent, is a device by which the errors of the past are made the rule of the future.

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

The greatest happiness principle is the only principle that can justify any institution whatsoever.

The more strictly the lines of demarcation between the several branches of the law are observed, the more perfect will be the system of legislation.

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

The game of push-pin is of equal value with the arts and sciences of music and poetry. If the game of push-pin furnish more pleasure, it is more valuable than either.

The only good reason for making a law is that it will do more good than harm.

Every law is an evil, for every law is an infraction of liberty.

The more the people are enlightened, the more they will be free.

The world is not a bed of roses, nor is it a bed of thorns.

The end of punishment is to prevent future offences.