--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: False is the idea of utility that…" description: "\"False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from men beca..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b3/cesare-beccaria-29316_2-amendment_false-is-the-idea-of-utility-that-sacrif_2216262.jpg" --- # False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand… ![“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…” quote by Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b3/cesare-beccaria-29316_2-amendment_false-is-the-idea-of-utility-that-sacrif_2216262.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b3/cesare-beccaria-29316_2-amendment_false-is-the-idea-of-utility-that-sacrif_2216262.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b3/cesare-beccaria-29316_2-amendment_false-is-the-idea-of-utility-that-sacrif_2216262.jpg) > “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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote argues that prohibiting weapon ownership harms law‑abiding citizens while failing to stop criminals, and that such laws are ineffective and destructive. **In simple terms:** Gun bans hurt the innocent and don’t stop crime. Key Takeaway Reevaluate gun‑control policies for effectiveness. Themes law justice rights public safety policy Mood critical analytical Type philosophical political When to use this quote - self‑defense - law enforcement - political debate - legislative reform Key Concepts utilitarianism civil liberty deterrence state power Questions to Reflect On - What evidence supports or refutes this claim? - How can policies balance safety and liberty? A Different Perspective May overlook the societal costs of widespread firearm access. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [2 amendment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/2-amendment/) [Advantage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advantage/) [Amendments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amendments/) [Arms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arms/) [Arms Laws](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arms-laws-1747676/) [Bearing arms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bearing-arms/) [Carrying guns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/carrying-guns/) [Commit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commit/) [Crime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crime/) [Destruction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destruction/) [Determined](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/determined/) [Disarming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disarming/) [Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil/) [False](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/false/) [False Idea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/false-idea-383376/) [Fire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fire/) [Forbid Carrying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forbid-carrying-444911/) [Founding fathers gun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/founding-fathers-gun/) [Founding fathers second amendment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/founding-fathers-second-amendment/) [Gun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gun/) [Gun control](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gun-control/) [Gun crime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gun-crime/) [Gun law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gun-law/) [Gun rights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gun-rights/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Imaginary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginary/) [Inconvenience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inconvenience/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Laws Forbid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/laws-forbid-1744480/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real/) [Remedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remedy/) [Right to bear arms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-to-bear-arms/) [Sacrifice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sacrifice/) [Second amendment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/second-amendment/) [Thousand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thousand/) [Trifling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trifling/) [Unarmed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unarmed/) [Utility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/utility/) [Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/water/) ## Related quotes > [Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are-2/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/false-is-the-idea-of-utility-that-sacrifices-a-thousand-real/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/the-laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [I find it very odd that the amendment about the right to bear arms, laws that were written so long ago, still pertain and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-jarmusch/i-find-it-very-odd-that-the-amendment-about-the-right-to-bear-arms/) [Jim Jarmusch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-jarmusch/) > [Arms and laws do not flourish together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julius-caesar/arms-and-laws-do-not-flourish-together/) [Julius Caesar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julius-caesar/) > [“Believe it or not, the secularists have even succeeded in passing laws that forbid the freedom of teaching about the global Flood in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-ham/believe-it-or-not-the-secularists-have-even-succeeded-in-passing-laws/) [Ken Ham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-ham/) > [The United States need to put internet processes, policies, and procedures in place with real laws that forbid going beyond the borders of what's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-snowden/the-united-states-need-to-put-internet-processes-policies-and/) [Edward Snowden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-snowden/) > [For an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/for-an-unarmed-man-may-be-attacked-with-greater-confidence-than-an/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subjugated races to possess arms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/the-most-foolish-mistake-we-could-possibly-make-would-be-to-allow-the-2/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [We have two choices: One is to continue to see a poor, ill, crying Africa, carrying guns, that depends on other people forever, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zeresenay-alemseged/we-have-two-choices-one-is-to-continue-to-see-a-poor-ill-crying/) [Zeresenay Alemseged](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zeresenay-alemseged/) > [I'm sick of carrying guns and beating up women.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-cagney/i-m-sick-of-carrying-guns-and-beating-up-women/) [James Cagney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-cagney/) > [Common sense should tell us that reading is the ultimate weapon--destroying ignorance, poverty and despair before they can destroyus. A nation that doesn't read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-trelease/common-sense-should-tell-us-that-reading-is-the-ultimate-weapon/) [Jim Trelease](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-trelease/) > [“the police in Shanghai began carrying guns during routine patrols for the first time this week as part of a China-wide boost in police…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-police-in-shanghai-began-carrying-guns-during-routine-patrols-for/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Gun control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/gun-control-the-theory-that-a-woman-found-dead-in-an-alley-raped-and-2/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) ## More by Cesare Beccaria > [Crimes are more effectually prevented by the certainty than the severity of punishment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/crimes-are-more-effectually-prevented-by-the-certainty-than-the/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [The laws that forbid the carrying of arms... serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/the-laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-serve-rather-to-encourage/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [“  If every individual be bound to society, society is equally bound to him, by a contract which from its nature equally binds both parties.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/if-every-individual-be-bound-to-society-society-is-equally-bound-to/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/the-laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [The punishment of death is the war of a nation against a citizen whose destruction it judges to be necessary or useful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/the-punishment-of-death-is-the-war-of-a-nation-against-a-citizen/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [Happy is the nation without a history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/happy-is-the-nation-without-a-history/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [“  Every punishment which does not arise from absolute necessity, says the great Montesquieu, is tyrannical. A proposition which may be made more general thus:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/every-punishment-which-does-not-arise-from-absolute-necessity-says/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [The fault no child ever loses is the one he was most punished for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/the-fault-no-child-ever-loses-is-the-one-he-was-most-punished-for/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [For a punishment to be just it should consist of only such gradations of intensity as suffice to deter men from committing crimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/for-a-punishment-to-be-just-it-should-consist-of-only-such-gradations/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [Laws against the possession of weapons only disarm those who have no intention of committing a crime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/laws-against-the-possession-of-weapons-only-disarm-those-who-have-no/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [“False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/false-is-the-idea-of-utility-that-sacrifices-a-thousand-real/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [“When a fixed code of laws, which must be observed to the letter, leaves no further care to the judge than to examine the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/when-a-fixed-code-of-laws-which-must-be-observed-to-the-letter-leaves/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [“It is a considerable point in all good legislation to determine exactly the credibility of witnesses and the proofs of a crime. Every reasonable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/it-is-a-considerable-point-in-all-good-legislation-to-determine/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/it-is-better-to-prevent-crimes-than-to-punish-them/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [For every crime that comes before him, a judge is required to complete a perfect syllogism in which the major premise must be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/for-every-crime-that-comes-before-him-a-judge-is-required-to-complete/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) [Explore all 17 Cesare Beccaria quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) ## More 2 amendment quotes > [Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize,... The people are confirmed by the next…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tench-coxe/as-civil-rulers-not-having-their-duty-to-the-people-duly-before-them/) [Tench Coxe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tench-coxe/) > [What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/what-country-can-preserve-its-liberties-if-its-rulers-are-not-warned/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [A sword by itself does not slay; it is merely the weapon used by the slayer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seneca-the-younger/a-sword-by-itself-does-not-slay-it-is-merely-the-weapon-used-by-the/) [Seneca the Younger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seneca-the-younger/) > [For an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/for-an-unarmed-man-may-be-attacked-with-greater-confidence-than-an/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [When they come for your guns, give them the ammo first.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-w-royce/when-they-come-for-your-guns-give-them-the-ammo-first/) [Kenneth W. Royce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-w-royce/) > [Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are-2/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world not destitute of arms, for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-balance-of-power-is-the-scale-of-peace-the-same-balance-would-be/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/the-laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orrin-hatch/if-gun-laws-in-fact-worked-the-sponsors-of-this-type-of-legislation/) [Orrin Hatch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orrin-hatch/) > [A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/a-well-regulated-militia-being-necessary-to-the-security-of-a-free/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-mason/to-disarm-the-people-was-the-best-and-most-effectual-way-to-enslave/) [George Mason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-mason/) > [Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion... in private self-defense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-adams/arms-in-the-hands-of-citizens-may-be-used-at-individual-discretion-in/) [John Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-adams/) > [That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-adams/that-the-said-constitution-shall-never-be-construed-to-authorize/) [John Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-adams/) > [Little more can reasonably be aimed at with respect to the people at large than to have them properly armed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-hamilton/little-more-can-reasonably-be-aimed-at-with-respect-to-the-people-at/) [Alexander Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-hamilton/) [Browse all 64 2 amendment quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/2-amendment/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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. 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