"Pythagorean Ethical Sentences From Stobæus" (1904)
Florilegium
“"This is a very old argument. The greatest happiness of the greatest number. If you think about it, you'll find it always works out that a few suffer for the good of the rest."
"In stories," Gair agreed hopelessly. "brave men die defending the rest. But this isn't like that!"
"Call it the modern version," Mr Claybury suggested kindly.”
Source: Power of Three (1976), p. 201.
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Diana Wynne Jones 137
English children's fantasy writer 1934–2011Related quotes
Detached Pages, entry for 1913
Journals 1889-1949
“That Action is best, which procures the greatest Happiness for the greatest Numbers”
An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725) Treatise II, Section 3
Context: That Action is best, which procures the greatest Happiness for the greatest Numbers; and that worst, which, in like manner, occasions Misery.
Source: All the Little Live Things
In Place of Fear (William Heinemann Ltd, 1952), pp. 167-8
1950s
Source: Weirdos From Another Planet: Calvin & Hobbes Series: Book Six: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection
“The greatest way to defend democracy is to make it work.”
Address, Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, Saskatoon, March 13, 1951.