Thomas Hobbes quotes
English political philosopher. Leviathan argues that a strong sovereign is the cost of escaping the war of all against all.
37 passages across 16 themes. More on Thomas Hobbes.
On action
“But Aversion wee have for things, not only which we know have hurt us; but also that we do not know whether they will hurt us, or not.”
“And Beasts that have Deliberation, must necessarily also have Will.”
“The Register of Knowledge of Fact is called History.”
“And as in other things, so in men, not the seller, but the buyer determines the Price.”
“As first a man cannot lay down the right of resisting them, that assault him by force, to take away his life; because he cannot be understood to ayme thereby, at any Good to himself.”
“Men looke not at the greatnesse of the evill past, but the greatnesse of the good to follow.”
“For naturall Bloud is in like manner made of the fruits of the Earth; and circulating, nourisheth by the way, every Member of the Body of Man.”
“No man's error becomes his own Law; nor obliges him to persist in it.”
“So that every Crime is a sinne; but not every sinne a Crime.”
“Fact be vertuous, or vicious, as Fortune pleaseth;”
“As also the great number of Corporations; which are as it were many lesser Common-wealths in the bowels of a greater, like wormes in the entrayles of a natural man.”
“Christian Kings may erre in deducing a Consequence, but who shall Judge?”
“But if it bee well considered, The praise of Ancient Authors, proceeds not from the reverence of the Dead, but from the competition and mutual envy of the Living.”
“To understand this for sense it is not required that a man should be a geometrician or a logician, but that he should be mad.”
On time
“A naturall foole that could never learn by heart the order of numerall words, as one, two, and three, may observe every stroak of the Clock, and nod to it, or say one, one, one; but can never know what houre it strikes.”
“For Prudence, is but Experience; which equal time, equally bestows on all men, in those things they equally apply themselves unto.”
“Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called Warre; and such a warre, as is of every man, against every man.”
On presence
“Of all Discourse, governed by desire of Knowledge, there is at last an End, either by attaining, or by giving over.”
“From whence it follows, that were the publique and private interest are most closely united, there is the publique most advanced.”
“Now I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark.”
On fear
“For there is no such thing as perpetual Tranquility of mind, while we live here; because Life it selfe is but Motion, and can never be without Desire, nor without Feare, no more than without Sense.”
“And this Feare of things invisible, is the naturall Seed of that, which every one in himself calleth Religion; and in them that worship, or feare that Power otherwise than they do, Superstition.”
On death
“The secret thoughts of a man run over all things, holy, prophane, clean, obscene, grave, and light, without shame, or blame…”
“And when all the world is overcharged with Inhabitants, then the last remedy of all is Warre, which provideth for every man, by Victory or Death.”
On authenticity
“A Covenant not to defend my selfe from force, by force, is always voyd.”
“No man is bound by the words themselves, either to kill himselfe, or any other man.”
On anger
“For all uniting of strength by private men, is, if for evil intent, unjust; if for intent unknown, dangerous to the Publique, and unjustly concealed.”
“Power as is really divided, and as dangerously to all purposes, by sharing with another an Indirect Power, as a Direct one.”
On community
“The life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short — without civic friendship.”
On wonder
“Curiosity is the lust of the mind.”
On contentment
“For he that hath strength enough to protect all, wants not sufficiency to oppresse all.”
On faith
“But all this language gotten, and augmented by Adam and his posterity, was again lost at the tower of Babel, when by the hand of God, every man was stricken for his rebellion, with an oblivion of his former language.”
On meaning
“But this priviledge, is allayed by another; and that is, by the priviledge of Absurdity; to which no living creature is subject, but man only.”
On hope
“For Appetite with an opinion of attaining, is called HOPE.”
On wisdom
“The source of every Crime, is some defect of the Understanding; or some error in Reasoning, or some sudden force of the Passions. Defect in the Understanding, is Ignorance; in Reasoning, Erroneous Opinion.”
On truth
“For such Truth as opposeth no man's profit nor pleasure is to all men welcome.”
On mind
“The thoughts are to the desires, as scouts and spies, to range abroad and find the way to the thing desired.”