Send a Quote Enter a brief message. SendOk2 “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.” ~ Cesare Beccaria (1735-1794) [Bonesana, Marchese di] Italian nobleman, criminologist, and penal reformerSource: Dei delitti e delle pene, [On Crimes and Punishments] ch.38 (1764)Translation is as quoted by Thomas Jefferson in his _Commonplace Book_, 314 (G. Chinard ed. 1926), which was "the source book and repertory of Jefferson's ideas on government." Id. at 4.