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The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?
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“The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?”

Jeremy Bentham

Source
An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation
Date
1789
Meaning

Meaning of “The question is not, Can they reason? nor,…”

Bentham shifts the basis for moral consideration of animals away from intelligence or speech and toward the capacity to experience suffering.

Source context

Where does it come from?

An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, Chapter XVII, section 1 footnote, reviewed against the represented Liberty Fund text. Bentham's 'Can they suffer?' question appears in his argument that sentience, not species membership or speech, is morally relevant to cruelty; it remains historical utilitarian philosophy rather than current legal doctrine.

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CommunityCompassionHelping OthersHumanityServiceShortThought-Provoking Quotes That Invite ReflectionEthicsJusticeRights
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I believe in the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavouring to make our fellow-creatures happy.
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“I believe in the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavouring to make our fellow-creatures happy.”

Thomas Paine · The Age of Reason · 1794–1796
Meaning & context

Paine’s profession of faith combines deistic belief with an ethical emphasis on equality, justice, mercy, and the practical happiness of other people.

Source details

The Age of Reason, Part I, Chapter I, “The Author’s Profession of Faith”; Moncure Daniel Conway collected/edited text represented by Project Gutenberg #3743 and cross-checked against Wikisource. The retained catalog wording says “I believe in the equality of man,” while the Conway/Gutenberg and Wikisource witness reads “I believe the equality of man.” This collection keeps its frozen legacy wording and discloses the edition-level variant rather than silently rewriting it. The passage is Paine’s deist profession of faith joining equality, justice, mercy and the happiness of fellow-creatures.

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life is the end and aim of consumption.
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“life is the end and aim of consumption.”

John Ruskin · Unto This Last and Other Essays on Political Economy · 1862
Meaning & context

Consumption is judged by what it ultimately does for human life, making economic activity a means rather than an end in itself within Ruskin’s argument.

Source details

Unto This Last, fourth essay; Project Gutenberg #36541. The line follows Ruskin’s distinction between production and consumption and retains the nineteenth-century political-economy setting.

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he must try to give happiness to others.
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“he must try to give happiness to others.”

Robert Louis Stevenson · A Christmas Sermon · 1888
Meaning & context

Stevenson makes other people’s happiness part of ordinary moral duty even while admitting that a person may not possess a complete theory of goodness.

Source details

A Christmas Sermon, section III, first published in Scribner’s Magazine in 1888; Project Gutenberg #14535. Stevenson writes that although a person may not know exactly what goodness is or what will make another person happy, he must still try to be good and try to give happiness to others. The inherited section-II note is corrected here after direct source review. This is historical ethical / Christian-sermon argument rather than a guarantee of emotional outcomes.

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I must serve the race which needs me most.
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“I must serve the race which needs me most.”

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper · Iola Leroy; Or, Shadows Uplifted · 1892
Voice: Fictional character · Iola Leroy
Meaning & context

Iola turns identity into a practical commitment: she decides that her education and abilities should be used where she believes her work is most needed.

Source details

Iola Leroy; Or, Shadows Uplifted, represented by Project Gutenberg #12352. Iola says this while declining Dr. Gresham’s marriage proposal and explaining her commitment to serve the Black community after emancipation. It is fictional character speech embedded in Harper’s Reconstruction-era racial and social argument.

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One person’s happiness is as sacred as another’s
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“One person’s happiness is as sacred as another’s”

Robert Louis Stevenson · A Christmas Sermon · 1888
Meaning & context

The claim gives equal moral weight to another person’s well-being, supporting intervention against injury without treating one individual’s happiness as inherently more valuable than another’s.

Source details

A Christmas Sermon, section III, Project Gutenberg #14535. In the discussion of intervention, revenge and defending a neighbour, Stevenson says one person’s happiness is as sacred as another’s and argues for defending the injured party when both cannot be protected. The inherited section-II note is corrected here after direct source review; “sacred” is moral rhetoric, not modern legal doctrine.

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In teaching there should be no distinction of classes.
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“In teaching there should be no distinction of classes.”

Confucius · The Analects of Confucius · James Legge translation
Meaning & context

Teaching is presented as something that should not be reserved only for people of a favored social class or background.

Source details

The Analects of Confucius, James Legge’s public-domain English translation; Book XV states the principle in a compact sentence about access to teaching.