Nature has placed ma...

Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do as well as to determine what we shall do. On the other hand, the standard of right and wrong, on the other chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. 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. In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while.
(Jeremy Bentham, Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1781))
大自然将人类置于两个至高无上的君主统治之下：痛苦和快乐。 只是他们单独指出我们应该做什么以及决定我们将做什么。 另一方面，在因果链上，是非标准被固定在他们的宝座上。 他们统治我们，在我们所做的一切，在我们所说的一切，在我们所想的一切； 为了推翻他们的统治，我们能做出的一切努力无不都是为了证明和确认这一点。 换句话说，一个人可能假装宣誓拒绝痛苦与快乐的帝国：但实际上，他始终臣服于这一帝国。
——杰里米·边沁（Jeremy Bentham），《道德与立法原则导论》(1781))