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It is an axiom that the more pleasure and the less pain there is in the Universe, the better it is. If, then, a person suffer pain instead of pleasure, whether he be criminal or not, the pain will be increased and the pleasure decreased; and, as this disagrees with the axiom just cited, it is wrong.

— Lewis Gompertz Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Soul, and Future State (1852)

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More quotes by Lewis Gompertz

Does it follow that a person is to withhold the performance of the good which may be within his power, because he does not attempt that which may seem beyond it?

Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824)

Much as animals suffer in a natural state, much more do they seem to suffer when under the dominion of the generality of men. What suffering in the former can be supposed to equal the constant torture of a hackney-coach horse?

Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Soul, and Future State (1852)

Axiom 8. That the importance of any action is measured by the degree of pleasure or pain that it causes or prevents.

Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824)

Such animals as be wants, he will nourish on the dregs and refuse of his own food, and give this as a gift; while those which are useless to him are left in a state of starvation, and deprived of the shelter of the forests, cut down by man.

Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Soul, and Future State (1852)

[E]very animal has more right to the use of its own body than others have to use it.

Lawrence W. Baker in Animal Rights and Welfare: A Documentary and Reference Guide (2015)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Lewis Gompertz (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.