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English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) developed utilitarian ethics based on the "greatest happiness principle." This child prodigy entered Oxford at 12 before creating revolutionary reforms advocating for criminal justice reform, women's rights, animal welfare, and decriminalization of homosexuality�all radically ahead of his time. His Panopticon prison concept transformed architectural thinking, while his request to have his preserved body displayed at University College London (where it remains today) embodied his commitment to social utility even after death. His legacy continues through evidence-based policy and effective altruism movements.
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"It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong."

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"Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government."

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

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

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

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"Every law is an infraction of liberty."

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

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"The age we live in is a busy age; in which knowledge is rapidly advancing towards perfection."

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

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"As to the evil which results from a censorship, it is impossible to measure it, for it is impossible to tell where it ends."

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"The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong."

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

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

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"Tyranny and anarchy are never far apart."

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"The principle of asceticism never was, nor ever can be, consistently pursued by any living creature. Let but one tenth part of the inhabitants of the earth pursue it consistently, and in a day's time they will have turned it into a Hell."

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

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"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."

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