Quote#Politics & Power
That which has no existence cannot be destroyed — that which cannot…
Quote byJeremy Bentham · 1748–1832
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Anarchical Fallacies (1796; 1843), The often-quoted phrase ‘nonsense upon stilts’ is often modernised to ‘nonsense on stilts’..
English (original)
That which has no existence cannot be destroyed — that which cannot be destroyed cannot require anything to preserve it from destruction. Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense — nonsense upon stilts.
— Jeremy Bentham
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Judges of elegance and taste consider themselves as benefactors to the human race, whilst they are really only the interrupters of their pleasure
To what shall the character of utility be ascribed, if not to that which is a source of pleasure?
Want keeps pace with dignity. Destitute of the lawful means of supporting his rank, his dignity presents a motive for malversation, and his power furnishes the means.
It is the principle of antipathy which leads us to speak of offences as deserving punishment. It is the corresponding principle of sympathy which leads us to speak of certain actions as meriting reward. This word merit can only lead to …
Create all the happiness you are able to create: remove all the misery you are able to remove.
Ah! when will the yoke of Custom—Custom, the blind tyrant, of which all other tyrants make their slave—ah! when will that misery-perpetuating yoke be shaken off?—when, when will Reason be seated on her throne?