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Top 50 Thomas Hobbes Quotes (PHILOSOPHY)

Top 10 Most Famous Thomas Hobbes Quotes (BEST)

“A democracy is no more than an aristocracy of orators. The people are so readily moved by demagogues that control must be exercised by the government over speech and press.”

Thomas Hobbes
It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law.Pin
It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law.
Government is necessary, not because man is naturally bad… but because man is by nature more individualistic than social.Pin
Government is necessary, not because man is naturally bad… but because man is by nature more individualistic than social.
Curiosity is the lust of the mind.Pin
Curiosity is the lust of the mind.
Life in the state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.Pin
Life in the state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
Hell is truth seen too late.Pin
Hell is truth seen too late.
Leisure is the Mother of Philosophy.Pin
Leisure is the Mother of Philosophy.
All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called ‘Facts’. They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain.Pin
All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called ‘Facts’. They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain.
Humans are driven by a perpetual and restless desire of power.Pin
Humans are driven by a perpetual and restless desire of power.
The condition of man… is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.Pin
The condition of man… is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.

9 Thomas Hobbes Quotes on War and Crime

“Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man, the same consequent to the time wherein men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there is no place for industry… no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

Thomas Hobbes
During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war; and such a war, as if of every man, against every man.Pin
During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war; and such a war, as if of every man, against every man.
For it can never be that war shall preserve life, and peace destroy it.Pin
For it can never be that war shall preserve life, and peace destroy it.
War consisteth not in battle only, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known.Pin
War consisteth not in battle only, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known.
When all the world is overcharged with inhabitants, then the last remedy of all is war, which provideth for every man, by victory or death.Pin
When all the world is overcharged with inhabitants, then the last remedy of all is war, which provideth for every man, by victory or death.
If men are naturally in a state of war, why do they always carry arms and why do they have keys to lock their doors?Pin
If men are naturally in a state of war, why do they always carry arms and why do they have keys to lock their doors?
He that is taken and put into prison or chains is not conquered, though overcome; for he is still an enemy.Pin
He that is taken and put into prison or chains is not conquered, though overcome; for he is still an enemy.
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.Pin
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.

“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.”

Thomas Hobbes

7 Thomas Hobbes Quotes on Life and Peace

The original of all great and lasting societies consisted not in the mutual good will men had toward each other, but in the mutual fear they had of each other.Pin
The original of all great and lasting societies consisted not in the mutual good will men had toward each other, but in the mutual fear they had of each other.
The first and fundamental law of Nature, which is, to seek peace and follow it.Pin
The first and fundamental law of Nature, which is, to seek peace and follow it.
It's not the pace of life I mind. It's the sudden stop at the end.Pin
It’s not the pace of life I mind. It’s the sudden stop at the end.
Now I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark.Pin
Now I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark.
Laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly.Pin
Laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly.
Where there is no common power, there is no law.Pin
Where there is no common power, there is no law.

“That a man be willing, when others are so too, as far forth as for peace and defense of himself he shall think it necessary, to lay down this right to all things; and be contented with so much liberty against other men, as he would allow other men against himself.”

Thomas Hobbes

2 Thomas Hobbes Quotes on Desire

It is one thing to desire, another to be in capacity fit for what we desire.Pin
It is one thing to desire, another to be in capacity fit for what we desire.
If any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies.Pin
If any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies.

9 Thomas Hobbes Quotes that will Make You Think

Science is the knowledge of consequences, and dependence of one fact upon another.Pin
Science is the knowledge of consequences, and dependence of one fact upon another.
Understanding is nothing else than conception caused by speech.Pin
Understanding is nothing else than conception caused by speech.
The world is governed by opinion.Pin
The world is governed by opinion.
God put me on this Earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I'm so far behind that I'll never die.Pin
God put me on this Earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I’m so far behind that I’ll never die.
A man's conscience and his judgment are the same thing, and, as the judgment, so also the conscience may be erroneous.Pin
A man’s conscience and his judgment are the same thing, and, as the judgment, so also the conscience may be erroneous.
Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravitation.Pin
Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravitation.
What is the heart but a spring, and the nerves but so many strings, and the joints but so many wheels, giving motion to the whole body?Pin
What is the heart but a spring, and the nerves but so many strings, and the joints but so many wheels, giving motion to the whole body?
Prudence is but experience, which equal time, equally bestows on all men, in those things they equally apply themselves unto.Pin
Prudence is but experience, which equal time, equally bestows on all men, in those things they equally apply themselves unto.
The praise of ancient authors proceeds not from the reverence of the dead, but from the competition and mutual envy of the living.Pin
The praise of ancient authors proceeds not from the reverence of the dead, but from the competition and mutual envy of the living.

3 Thomas Hobbes Quotes on Government and Law

How could a state be governed, or protected in its foreign relations if every individual remained free to obey or not to obey the law according to his private opinion.Pin
How could a state be governed, or protected in its foreign relations if every individual remained free to obey or not to obey the law according to his private opinion.
Covenants, without the sword, are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all.Pin
Covenants, without the sword, are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all.
For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man's nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.Pin
For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man’s nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.

2 Thomas Hobbes Quotes on Religion

Fear of things invisible in the natural seed of that which everyone in himself calleth religion.Pin
Fear of things invisible in the natural seed of that which everyone in himself calleth religion.
Religions are like pills, which must be swallowed whole without chewing.Pin
Religions are like pills, which must be swallowed whole without chewing.

6 Thomas Hobbes Quotes on the Nature of Man

The secret thoughts of a man run over all things, holy, profane, clean, obscene, grave, and light, without shame or blame.Pin
The secret thoughts of a man run over all things, holy, profane, clean, obscene, grave, and light, without shame or blame.
No man's error becomes his own Law; nor obliges him to persist in it.Pin
No man’s error becomes his own Law; nor obliges him to persist in it.
The passions of men are commonly more potent than their reason.Pin
The passions of men are commonly more potent than their reason.
A man cannot lay down the right of resisting them that assault him by force, to take away his life.Pin
A man cannot lay down the right of resisting them that assault him by force, to take away his life.
All men, among themselves, are by nature equal. The inequality we now discern hath its spring from the civil law.Pin
All men, among themselves, are by nature equal. The inequality we now discern hath its spring from the civil law.
And seeing every man is presumed to do all things in order to his own benefit, no man is a fit Arbitrator in his own cause.Pin
And seeing every man is presumed to do all things in order to his own benefit, no man is a fit Arbitrator in his own cause.

2 Thomas Hobbes Quotes on Money

Words are the money of fools.Pin
Words are the money of fools.
Unnecessary laws are not good laws, but traps for money.Pin
Unnecessary laws are not good laws, but traps for money.
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(MUST READ) Leviathan (Illustrated): Premium Edition

Leviathan (Illustrated): Premium Edition Pin
Leviathan (Illustrated): Premium Edition 

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