Quotessence
Home / Topics / Utilitarianism Quotes

Utilitarianism Quotes

Browse 63 quotes about Utilitarianism.

Utilitarianism Quotes

“In a world in which there is so much to interest, so much to enjoy, and so much also to correct and improve, everyone who has this moderate amount of moral and intellectual requisites is capable of an existence which may be called enviable; and unless such a person, through bad laws, or subjection to the will of others, is denied the liberty to use the sources of happiness within his reach, he will not fail to find the enviable existence”

WorldMayPersonsUseLawEnjoyInterestExistenceLibertyMoralFailingSourceAmountCapableIntellectualDeniedModeratesSubjectionSource Of HappinessUtilitarianismHappiness WithinBad Laws
Book:Utilitarianism
Create image

“Still, even the most admirable of atheists is nothing more than a moral parasite, living his life based on borrowed ethics. This is why, when pressed, the atheist will often attempt to hide his lack of conviction in his own beliefs behind some poorly formulated utilitarianism, or argue that he acts out of altruistic self-interest. But this is only post-facto rationalization, not reason or rational behavior.”

StillsSelfReasonReligionBeliefInterestBehindsMoralAtheismBehaviorEthicsAtheistConvictionArguingRationalPostsSelf InterestAdmirableBorrowedGod ExistsParasitesUtilitarianismProof Of GodProof That God ExistsProof God Exists
Author:Theodore Beale
Create image

“Science only means knowledge; and for [Greek] ancients it did only mean knowledge. Thus the favorite science of the Greeks was Astronomy, because it was as abstract as Algebra. ... We may say that the great Greek ideal was to have no use for useful things. The Slave was he who learned useful things; the Freeman was he who learned useless things. This still remains the ideal of many noble men of science, in the sense they do desire truth as the great Greeks desired it; and their attitude is an external protest against vulgarity of utilitarianism.”

MenMayMeanStillsUseScienceDesireAttitudeLearningIdealsRemainsSlaveNobleAstronomyUselessGreekAbstractProtestAlgebraVulgarityFreemanUseful ThingsUtilitarianismUseless ThingsNoble Man
Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
Create image

“Utilitarianism is a civilization of production and of use, a civilization of "things" and not of "persons," a civilization in which persons are used in the same way as things are used. In the context of a civilization of use, woman can become an object for man, children a hindrance to parents, the family an institution obstructing the freedom of its members.”

MenWayChildrenPersonsUseInspirationUsedFaithParentObjectsCivilizationMembersInstitutionsProductionsChristian InspirationalHindranceUtilitarianism
Author:Pope John Paul II
Create image

“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.”

ThinkingTwoGovernmentPainPleasureEffortMankindMastersSovereignUtilityPain And PleasureSubjectionUtilitarianUtilitarianismPain Pleasure
Book:The Works of Jeremy Bentham, Now First Collected: Under the Superintendence of His Executor, John Bowring ...
Create image

“The intellectual and moral satisfaction that I failed to gain from the utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill, the revolutionary methods of Marx and Lenin, the social contract theory of Hobbes, the "back to nature" optimism of Rousseau, and the superman philosophy of Nietzsche, I found in the nonviolent resistance philosophy of Gandhi. I came to feel that this was the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.”

PeopleFeelsPhilosophyFoundSocialSoundMoralStruggleTheoryIntellectualGainsOptimismMethodSatisfactionResistanceRevolutionaryContractsOppressedMillsPeacemakingAhimsaHobbesSocial ContractNonviolent ResistanceUtilitarianismStruggle For Freedom
Book:A Martin Luther King Treasury
Create image

“All social inequalities which have ceased to be considered expedient, assume the character not of simple inexpediency, but of injustice, and appear so tyrannical, that people are apt to wonder how they ever could have. been tolerated; forgetful that they themselves perhaps tolerate other inequalities under an equally mistaken notion of expediency, the correction of which would make that which they approve seem quite as monstrous as what they have at last learnt to condemn.”

PeopleHas BeensCharacterSeemsLastsSocialSimpleWonderAssumingNotionInjusticeInequalityTolerateMistakenCould Have BeenMonstrousCorrectionsForgetfulExpediencyUtilitarianismSocial Inequality
Book:On Liberty and Utilitarianism
Create image

“Nietzsche is absolutely correct, even more correct today than when he wrote it in Thus Spake Zarathustra: I looked all about me for human beings but all I saw were fragments, deformed creatures with too much eye or too much ear. This is what the modern culture of specialized intellect-the kind of one-sidedness that banausic utilitarianism alone can value-works so hard to produce.”

HumansKindHardPhilosophyEyeTodayValuesCultureHuman BeingsSawsToo MuchModernProduceCreaturesEarsIntellectFragmentsUtilitarianismModern CultureZarathustra
Author:Kenny Smith
Create image