Q0191

Jeremy Bentham

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.
Thinker Jeremy Bentham
School Utilitarianism
Source A Fragment on Government, Preface (1776)
Theme Happiness
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with A Fragment on Government, Preface (1776), within the tradition of Utilitarianism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of happiness, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Jeremy Bentham's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Jeremy Bentham. (n.d.). It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0191

MLA: Jeremy Bentham. “It is the greatest happiness of the greatest….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0191.

Chicago: Jeremy Bentham. “It is the greatest happiness of the greatest….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0191.

Same thinker

More from Jeremy Bentham

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

All quotations by Jeremy Bentham

Same theme

More on happiness

  1. The human good is activity of soul in accordance with virtue.
  2. Of all that wisdom provides for the happiness of a whole life, by far the greatest is the possession of friendship.
  3. It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
  4. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
  5. The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions…be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.

Browse the happiness theme