“If then, merely out of regard to population, it were right that paederasts should be burnt alive, monks ought to be roasted alive over a slow fire.”

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

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

Every law is an infraction of liberty.

Is it possible for a man to move the earth? Yes; but he must first find out another earth to stand upon.

Without publicity, no good is permanent; under the auspices of publicity, no evil can continue.

The rarest of all human qualities is consistency.

Prose is when all the lines except the last go on to the end. Poetry is when some of them fall short of it.

Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.

happy life and merciful death

The quantity of pleasure being equal, push-pin is as good as poetry.

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

Create 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.

Tyranny and anarchy are never far apart.

If you hate much, punish much: if you hate little, punish little: punish as you hate. If you hate not at all, punish not at all

Reputation is the road to power

Happiness is a very pretty thing to feel, but very dry to talk about.