Quotes by Cesare Beccaria - Page 1

Happy is the nation without a history.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Nations
Rehabilitation
Copy Quote
It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Crime
Pragmatism
Copy Quote
The fault no child ever loses is the one he was most punished for.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Childhood
Children
Faults
Copy Quote
Crimes are more effectually prevented by the certainty than the severity of punishment
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Certainty
Crime
Punishment
Copy Quote
Laws against the possession of weapons only disarm those who have no intention of committing a crime.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Crime
Law
Weapons
Copy Quote
The punishment of death is the war of a nation against a citizen whose destruction it judges to be necessary or useful.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
War
Judging
Punishment
Copy Quote
For a punishment to be just it should consist of only such gradations of intensity as suffice to deter men from committing crimes.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Men
Crime
Intensity
Copy Quote
Our knowledge and all of our ideas are mutually connected; the more complicated they are, the more numerous must be the roads that lead to them and depart from them.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Knowledge
Complicated
Connected
Ideas
Depart
Lead
Mutually
Numerous
Roads
Copy Quote
I myself owe everything to French books. They developed in my soul the sentiments of humanity which had been stifled by eight years of fanatical and servile education.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Education
Eight
Humanity
My Soul
Sentiments
Soul
Books
French
Developed
Fanatical
Owe
Stifled
Copy Quote
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms... serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Men
Law
May
Copy Quote
The laws only can determine the punishment of crimes, and the authority of making penal laws can only reside with the legislator, who represents the whole society united by the social compact.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Society
Authority
Compact
Determine
Punishment
Social
United
Whole
Laws
Crimes
Legislator
Making
Represents
Reside
Copy Quote
When the code of laws is once fixed, it should be observed in the literal sense, and nothing more is left to the judge than to determine whether an action is or is not conformable to the written law.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Code
Determine
Fixed
Literal
Judge
Observed
Written Law
Copy Quote
Nothing could be more dangerous than following the popular maxim whereby it is the spirit of the law that must be consulted. This is an embankment that, once broken, gives way to a torrent of opinions.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Broken
Following
Maxim
Opinions
Torrent
Whereby
Copy Quote
If the same punishment is prescribed for two crimes that injure society in different degrees, then men will face no stronger deterrent from committing the greater crime if they find it in their advantage to do so.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Society
Advantage
Crime
Degrees
Deterrent
Different
Greater
Punishment
Stronger
Two
Face
Same
Find
Committing
Injure
Prescribed
Copy Quote
To the extent that human spirits are made gentle by the social state, sensibility increases; as it increases, the severity of punishment must diminish if one wishes to maintain a constant relation between object and feeling.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Constant
Diminish
Gentle
Punishment
Relation
Sensibility
Severity
Extent
Increases
Maintain
Object
Spirits
Wishes
Copy Quote
The lawgiver ought to be gentle, lenient and humane. The lawgiver ought to be a skilled architect who raises his building on the foundation of self-love, and the interest of all ought to be the product of the interests of each.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Architect
Foundation
Gentle
Humane
Lenient
Ought
Raises
Self Love
Skilled
Copy Quote
If there were an exact and universal scale of punishments and crimes, we would have a fairly reliable and shared instrument to measure the degree of tyranny and liberty, of the basic humanity or malice of the different nations.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Humanity
Liberty
Malice
Nations
Tyranny
Fairly
Scale
Basic
Crimes
Degree
Exact
Instrument
Measure
Punishments
Reliable
Shared
Copy Quote
Happy are those few nations that have not waited till the slow succession of human vicissitudes should, from the extremity of evil, produce a transition to good; but by prudent laws have facilitated the progress from one to the other!
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Extremity
Nations
Prudent
Succession
Till
Slow
Waited
Copy Quote
The laws receive their force and authority from an oath of fidelity, either tacit or expressed, which living subjects have sworn to their sovereign, in order to restrain the intestine fermentation of the private interest of individuals.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Authority
Fidelity
Oath
Sovereign
Subjects
Tacit
Expressed
Individuals
Receive
Restrain
Sworn
Copy Quote
If we open our history books, we shall see that the laws, for all that they are or should be contracts amongst free men, have rarely been anything but the tools of the passions of a few men or the offspring of a fleeting and haphazard necessity.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Contracts
Fleeting
Haphazard
History Books
Offspring
Tools
Laws
Amongst
Books
Open
Necessity
Few Men
Free Men
Passions
Rarely
Shall
Copy Quote
Men's most superficial feelings lead them to prefer cruel laws. Nevertheless, when they are subjected to them themselves, it is in each man's interest that they be moderate, because the fear of being injured is greater than the desire to injure.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Desire
Greater
Nevertheless
Superficial
Prefer
Men Fear Man
Cruel
Lead
Injure
Moderate
Subjected
Themselves
Copy Quote
For every criminal case, the judge must construct a perfect syllogism: the major premise must be the general law; the minor premise, whether or not the action in question is in compliance with the law; and the conclusion, acquittal or punishment.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Action
Compliance
Conclusion
Perfect
Punishment
Judge
General
Case
Construct
Criminal
Major
Minor
Premise
Question
Copy Quote
Unless some other factor is operative, in large, weak and underpopulated states, the luxury of ostentation prevails over that of comfort; but in countries which are more populous than extensive, the luxury of comfort always diminishes ostentation.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Comfort
Luxury
Ostentation
Weak
Countries
Diminishes
Extensive
Factor
Large
Operative
Prevails
Copy Quote
Philosophers see no harm in the Jesuits other than in their effect on humanity and the sciences. The vulgar and especially the prejudiced only hate them from an envy and jealousy born out of conspiracy and intrigue at an organisation which overshadows them.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Jealousy
Conspiracy
Envy
Harm
Intrigue
Organisation
Vulgar
Jesuits
Philosophers
Prejudiced
Sciences
Copy Quote
Easy, simple and great laws, which await nothing but a sign from the lawgiver to spread prosperity and vigour throughout the nation, laws which would earn him immortal hymns of gratitude down the generations, are those which are least considered or least wanted.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Generations
Gratitude
Hymns
Immortal
Prosperity
Spread
Await
Earn
Vigour
Copy Quote
The severity of punishments ought to be relative to the state of the nation itself. Stronger and more easily felt impressions have to be made on a people only just out of the savage state. A lightning strike is needed to stop a fierce lion who is provoked by a gunshot.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Lightning
Needed
Ought
Provoked
Relative
Severity
Stronger
Easily
Punishments
Savage
Strike
Copy Quote
In order that punishment should not be an act of violence perpetrated by one or many upon a private citizen, it is essential that it should be public, speedy, necessary, the minimum possible in the given circumstances, proportionate to the crime, and determined by the law.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Circumstances
Crime
Determined
Given
Law
Minimum
Order
Punishment
Should
Violence
Act
Possible
Public
Essential
Necessary
Private
Private Citizen
Speedy
Copy Quote
By 'justice', I understand nothing more than that bond which is necessary to keep the interest of individuals united, without which men would return to their original state of barbarity. All punishments which exceed the necessity of preserving this bond are, in their nature, unjust.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Exceed
Return
Unjust
Original
Bond
Individuals
Necessary
Preserving
Punishments
Copy Quote
No man ever freely surrendered a portion of his own liberty for the sake of the public good; such a chimera appears only in fiction. If it were possible, we would each prefer that the pacts binding others did not bind us; every man sees himself as the centre of all the world's affairs.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Centre
Every Man
Liberty
Public Good
Sake
Good Man World
Affairs
Appears
Prefer
Bind
Freely
Portion
Sees
Copy Quote
In every human society, there is an effort continually tending to confer on one part the height of power and happiness, and to reduce the other to the extreme of weakness and misery. The intent of good laws is to oppose this effort and to diffuse their influence universally and equally.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Height
Human Society
Misery
Weakness
Extreme
Continually
Diffuse
Equally
Intent
Oppose
Reduce
Tending
Universally
Copy Quote
To show men that crimes can be pardoned, and that punishment is not their inevitable consequence, encourages the illusion of impunity and induces the belief that, since there are pardons, those sentences which are not pardoned are violent acts of force rather than the products of justice.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Belief
Consequence
Force
Illusion
Impunity
Inevitable
Pardon
Products
Punishment
Sentences
Violent
Acts
Crimes
Encourages
Copy Quote
It is impossible to anticipate all of the misdeeds engendered by the universal conflict of human passions. They multiply at a compound rate with the growth in population and the interlacing of particular interests that cannot be directed with geometrical precision towards the public utility.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Anticipate
Conflict
Population
Precision
Rate
Utility
Compound
Directed
Geometrical
Multiply
Passions
Copy Quote
It is the task of theologians to establish the limits of justice and injustice regarding the intrinsic goodness or wickedness of an act; it is the task of the observer of public life to establish the relationships of political justice and injustice, that is, of what is useful or harmful to society.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Goodness
Injustice
Limits
Public Life
Wickedness
Act
Useful
Establish
Harmful
Intrinsic
Observer
Regarding
Relationships
Task
Theologians
Copy Quote
No man can be judged a criminal until he is found guilty; nor can society take from him the public protection until it has been proved that he has violated the conditions on which it was granted. What right, then, but that of power, can authorize the punishment of a citizen so long as there remains any doubt of his guilt?
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Society
Conditions
Doubt
Found
Granted
Guilt
Judged
Long
Protection
Punishment
Remains
Then
Man
Any
Been
He
Citizen
Take
Public
Criminal
Until
Him
His
Nor
Right
Proved
Violated
Which
Copy Quote
The moral and political principles that govern men are derived from three sources: revelation, natural law, and the artificial conventions of society. With regard to its main purpose, there is no comparison between the first and the others; but all three are alike in that they all lead towards happiness in this mortal life.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Artificial
Comparison
Conventions
Principles
Regard
Life Happiness Men
Alike
Derived
Govern
Mortal
Revelation
Sources
Copy Quote
If someone were to say that life at hard labor is as painful as death and therefore equally cruel, I should reply that, taking all the unhappy moments of perpetual slavery together, it is perhaps even more painful, but these moments are spread out over a lifetime, and capital punishment exercises all its power in an instant.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Death
Capital Punishment
Instant
Labor
Lifetime
Moments
Painful
Perpetual
Punishment
Slavery
Spread
Together
Unhappy
Life Death Power
Capital
Cruel
Equally
Exercises
Over
Perhaps
Reply
Taking
Therefore
Copy Quote
Laws are the terms by which independent and isolated men united to form a society, once they tired of living in a perpetual state of war where the enjoyment of liberty was rendered useless by the uncertainty of its preservation. They sacrificed a portion of this liberty so that they could enjoy the remainder in security and peace.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Enjoyment
Independent
Isolated
Liberty
Perpetual
Preservation
Security
Tired
Uncertainty
Useless
War Men Peace
War Peace Men
Portion
Rendered
Sacrificed
Copy Quote
It will always be considered a praiseworthy undertaking to urge the most obstinate and incredulous to abide by the principles that impel men to live in society. There are, therefore, three distinct classes of vice and virtue: the religious, the natural, and the political. These three classes should never be in contradiction with one another.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Obstinate
Praiseworthy
Principles
Religious
Virtue
Men Society Always
Abide
Considered
Classes
Distinct
Therefore
Undertaking
Urge
Vice
Copy Quote
For every crime that comes before him, a judge is required to complete a perfect syllogism in which the major premise must be the general law; the minor, the action that conforms or does not conform to the law; and the conclusion, acquittal or punishment. If the judge were constrained, or if he desired to frame even a single additional syllogism, the door would thereby be opened to uncertainty.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Doors
Law
Punishment
Copy Quote
False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from men because it burns, and water because one may drown in it; that has no remedy for evils except destruction. The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Men
Real
Sacrifice
Copy Quote
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Can it be supposed that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity...will respect the less important and arbitrary ones... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants, they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
Cesare Beccaria / Philosopher
Men
Gun
Law
Copy Quote

Related Philosopher Authors

Soren Kierkegaard
Philosopher
Wednesday, May 05, 1813
Sunday, Nov 11, 1855
Socrates
Philosopher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Plato
Philosopher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Zicheng Hong
Philosopher
Zhuangzi
Philosopher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Zhang Zai
Philosopher
Zeno Of Elea
Philosopher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Zengzi
Philosopher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Zechariah Chafee
Philosopher
Monday, Dec 07, 1885
Friday, Feb 08, 1957
Yasuhiko Kimura
Philosopher
Yamaga Soko
Philosopher
Wednesday, Sep 21, 1622
Tuesday, Oct 23, 1685
Yajnavalkya
Philosopher
Xunzi
Philosopher
Xenophanes
Philosopher

Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Xenocrates
Philosopher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970

View All Philosopher Quotes

Top Authors

Thomas Jefferson
3Rd US President
Saturday, Apr 13, 1743
Tuesday, Jul 04, 1826
George Bernard Shaw
Playwright
Saturday, Jul 26, 1856
Thursday, Nov 02, 1950
John F. Kennedy
35Th U.s. President
Tuesday, May 29, 1917
Friday, Nov 22, 1963
Napoleon Bonaparte
Military Commander
Tuesday, Aug 15, 1769
Saturday, May 05, 1821
Henry David Thoreau
Author
Saturday, Jul 12, 1817
Tuesday, May 06, 1862
William Blake
Poet
Monday, Nov 28, 1757
Sunday, Aug 12, 1827
Kanye West
Songwriter
Wednesday, Jun 08, 1977
Thursday, Jun 04, 2015
Peter Drucker
Author
Friday, Nov 19, 1909
Friday, Nov 11, 2005
Ronald Reagan
40Th US President
Monday, Feb 06, 1911
Saturday, Jun 05, 2004
Tyler, The Creator
Rapper
Wednesday, Mar 06, 1991
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Philosopher
Chanakya
Teacher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Billy Graham
Evangelist
Thursday, Nov 07, 1918
Muhammad Ali
Professional Boxer
Saturday, Jan 17, 1942
Friday, Jun 03, 2016
Friedrich Nietzsche
Philologist
Tuesday, Oct 15, 1844
Saturday, Aug 25, 1900

View All Authors

Cesare Beccaria Quotes - Page 1

App & Tools

Related Philosopher Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page

Stay Connected

App & Tools

Related Philosopher Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page