110+ Thomas Hobbes Quotes On Government, Human Nature And Absolute Monarchy

Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher who lived between 1588 and 1679. He is best known for his book Leviathan, which expounded the idea of a social contract in which people agree to surrender their right to a central authority in exchange for protection. His works in political philosophy laid the foundation for modern theories of government and social contract. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Thomas Hobbes on government, human nature, absolute monarchy.

Top 10 Thomas Hobbes Quotes

1. 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.
2. Government is necessary, not because man is naturally bad... but because man is by nature more individualistic than social.
3. Hell is Truth Seen Too Late.
4. Humans are driven by a perpetual and restless desire of power.
5. The right of nature... is the liberty each man hath to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own life.
6. 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.
7. It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law
8. Curiosity is the lust of the mind.
9. 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.
10. Religions are like pills, which must be swallowed whole without chewing.

Thomas Hobbes Image Quotes

Humans are driven by a perpetual and restless desire of power. — Thomas Hobbes

It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law — Thomas Hobbes

Curiosity is the lust of the mind. — Thomas Hobbes

Religions are like pills, which must be swallowed whole without chewing. — Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes Short Quotes

• Silence is sometimes an argument of Consent.
• Science is the knowledge of consequences, and dependence of one fact upon another.
• Prudence is a presumption of the future, contracted from the experience of time past.
• For it is not the shape, but their use, that makes them angels.
• The privilege of absurdity; to which no living creature is subject, but man only.
• Life is nasty, brutish, and short
• Appetite, with an opinion of attaining, is called hope; the same, without such opinion, despair.
• Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
• Understanding is nothing else than conception caused by speech.
• Obligation is thraldom, and thraldom is hateful.

Thomas Hobbes Quotes About Government

The Imagination that is raised in man (or any other creature imbued with the faculty of imagining) by words, or other voluntary signs, is that we generally call Understanding; and is common to Man and Beasts. — Thomas Hobbes

The Pacts and Covenants, by which the parts of this Body Politique were at first made, set together, and united, resemble that Fiat, or the Let us make man, pronounced by God in the Creation. — Thomas Hobbes

Of all Discourse , governed by desire of Knowledge, there is at last an End , either by attaining, or by giving over. — Thomas Hobbes

Those men that are so remissly governed that they dare take up arms to defend or introduce an opinion, are still in war, and their condition not peace, but only a cessation of arms for fear of one another, and they live as it were in the precincts of battle continually. — Thomas Hobbes

The world is governed by opinion. — Thomas Hobbes

For there are very few so foolish who would not rather govern themselves than be governed by others. — Thomas Hobbes

To speak impartially, both sayings are very true: that man to man is a kind of God; and that man to man is an arrant wolf. The first is true, if we compare citizens amongst themselves; and the second, if we compare cities. — Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes Quotes About State Of Nature

In the state of nature profit is the measure of right. — Thomas Hobbes

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? — Thomas Hobbes

Life in the state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. — Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes Quotes About Law

To this war of every man against every man, this also in consequent; that nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice have there no place. Where there is no common power, there is no law, where no law, no injustice. Force, and fraud, are in war the cardinal virtues. — Thomas Hobbes

No mans error becomes his own Law; nor obliges him to persist in it. — Thomas Hobbes

Ignorance of the law is no good excuse, where every man is bound to take notice of the laws to which he is subject. — Thomas Hobbes

For all laws are general judgements, or sentences of the legislator; as also every particular judgement is a law to him whose case is judged. — Thomas Hobbes

The Interpretation of the Laws of Nature in a Common-wealth, dependeth not on the books of Moral Philosophy. The Authority of writers, without the Authority of the Commonwealth, maketh not their opinions Law, be they never so true. — Thomas Hobbes

All men, among themselves, are by nature equal. The inequality we now discern hath its spring from the civil law. — Thomas Hobbes

Unnecessary laws are not good laws, but traps for money. — Thomas Hobbes

The first and fundamental law of Nature, which is, to seek peace and follow it. — Thomas Hobbes

This is that law of the Gospel; whatsoever you require that others should do to you, that do ye to them. — Thomas Hobbes

Where there is no common power, there is no law — Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes Quotes About Mind

It's not the pace of life I mind. It's the sudden stop at the end. — Thomas Hobbes

The flesh endures the storms of the present alone; the mind, those of the past and future as well as the present. Gluttony is a lust of the mind. — Thomas Hobbes

The Present only has a being in Nature; things Past have a being in the Memory only, but things to come have no being at all; the Future but a fiction of the mind. — Thomas Hobbes

All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called "Facts". They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain. — Thomas Hobbes

Fear of power invisible, feigned by the mind or imagined from tales publicly allowed, is religion; not allowed, superstition. — Thomas Hobbes

There is no such thing as perpetual tranquility of mind, while we live here; because life itself is but motion, and can never be without desire, nor without fear, no more than without sense. — Thomas Hobbes

Man is distinguished, not only by his reason; but also by this singular passion from other animals... which is a lust of the mind, that by a perseverance of delight in the continual and indefatigable generation of knowledge, exceeds the short vehemence of any carnal pleasure. — Thomas Hobbes

There is no such thing as perpetual tranquility of mind while we live here. — Thomas Hobbes

Desire to know why, and how -- curiosity, which is a lust of the mind, that a perseverance of delight in the continued and indefatigable generation of knowledge -- exceedeth the short vehemence of any carnal pleasure. — Thomas Hobbes

To conclude, The Light of humane minds is Perspicuous Words, but by exact definitions first snuffed, and purged from ambiguity; Reason is the pace; Encrease of Science, the way; and the Benefit of man-kind, the end. — Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes Quotes About Words

I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark. — Thomas Hobbes

Words are the money of fools. — Thomas Hobbes

A great leap in the dark — Thomas Hobbes

Words are wise men's counters, they do but reckon by them: but they are the money of fools. — Thomas Hobbes

And therefore in geometry (which is the only science that it hath pleased God hitherto to bestow on mankind), men begin at settling the significations of their words; which settling of significations, they call definitions, and place them in the beginning of their reckoning. — Thomas Hobbes

A wise man should so write (though in words understood by all men) that wise men only should be able to commend him. — Thomas Hobbes

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. — Thomas Hobbes

Heresy is a word which, when it is used without passion, signifies a private opinion. So the different sects of the old philosophers, Academians, Peripatetics, Epicureans, Stoics, &c., were called heresies. — Thomas Hobbes

Covenants, without the sword, are but words, and of no strength to secure a man at all. The bonds of words are too weak to bridle man's ambition, avarice, anger, and other passions, without the fear of some coercive power. — Thomas Hobbes

Words are wise men's counters, they do but reckon by them: but they are the money of fools, that value them by the authority of an Aristotle, a Cicero, or a Thomas, or any other doctor whatsoever, if but a man. — Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes Quotes About Pleasure

Such truth, as opposeth no man's profit, nor pleasure, is to all men welcome. — Thomas Hobbes

Emulation is grief arising from seeing one's self, exceeded or excelled by his concurrent, together with hope to equal or exceed him in time to come, by his own ability. But envy is the same grief joined with pleasure conceived in the imagination of some ill-fortune that may befall him. — Thomas Hobbes

Pleasure therefore, (or Delight,) is the appearance or sense of Good; and Molestation or Displeasure, the appearance or sense of Evil. — Thomas Hobbes

Such truth as opposeth no man's profit nor pleasure is to all men welcome. — Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes Famous Quotes And Sayings

Humans are driven by a perpetual and restless desire of power. — Thomas Hobbes

It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law — Thomas Hobbes

Curiosity is the lust of the mind. — Thomas Hobbes

Religions are like pills, which must be swallowed whole without chewing. — Thomas Hobbes

The secret thoughts of a man run over all things, holy, profane, clean, obscene, grave, and light, without shame or blame. — Thomas Hobbes

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. — Thomas Hobbes

Such is the nature of men, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more learned; yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves. — Thomas Hobbes

They that are discontented under monarchy, call it tyranny; and they that are displeased with aristocracy, call it oligarchy: so also, they which find themselves grieved under a democracy, call it anarchy, which signifies the want of government; and yet I think no man believes, that want of government, is any new kind of government. — 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. — Thomas Hobbes

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. — Thomas Hobbes

The obligation of subjects to the sovereign is understood to last as long, and no longer, than the power lasteth by which he is able to protect them. — Thomas Hobbes

The end of knowledge is power ... the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action or thing to be done. — Thomas Hobbes

Because silver and gold have their value from the matter itself, they have first this privilege, that the value of them cannot be altered by the power of one, nor of a few commonwealths, as being a common measure of the commodities of all places. But base money may easily be enhanced or abased. — Thomas Hobbes

If any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies. — Thomas Hobbes

A covenant not to defend myself from force by force is always void. For ... no man can transfer or lay down his Right to save himself. For the right men have by Nature to protect themselves, when none else can protect them, can by no Covenant be relinquished. ... [The right] to defend ourselves [is the] summe of the Right of Nature. — Thomas Hobbes

The "value" or "worth" of a man is, as of all other things, his price; that is to say, so much as would be given for the use of his power. — Thomas Hobbes

Force, and fraud, are in war the two cardinal virtues. — Thomas Hobbes

The praise of ancient authors proceeds not from the reverence of the dead, but from the competition and mutual envy of the living. — Thomas Hobbes

Subjects have no greater liberty in a popular than in a monarchial state. That which deceives them is the equal participation of command. — Thomas Hobbes

Every man may think his own cause just till it be heard and judged. — Thomas Hobbes

Time, and Industry, produce everyday new knowledge. — Thomas Hobbes

A man cannot lay down the right of resisting them that assault him by force, to take away his life. — Thomas Hobbes

Moral philosophy is nothing else but the science of what is good, and evil, in the conversation, and society of mankind. Good, and evil, are names that signify our appetites, and aversions; which in different tempers, customs, and doctrines of men, are different. — Thomas Hobbes

Felicity is a continual progress of the desire from one object to another, the attaining of the former being still but the way to the latter. — Thomas Hobbes

The disembodied spirit is immortal; there is nothing of it that can grow old or die. But the embodied spirit sees death on the horizon as soon as its day dawns. — Thomas Hobbes

Desire of praise disposeth to laudable actions. — Thomas Hobbes

The Register of Knowledge of Fact is called History . — Thomas Hobbes

Intemperance is naturally punished with diseases; rashness, with mischance; injustice; with violence of enemies; pride, with ruin; cowardice, with oppression; and rebellion, with slaughter. — Thomas Hobbes

Geometry is the only science that it hath pleased God hitherto to bestow on mankind. — Thomas Hobbes

Man is distinguished not only by his reason, but also by this singular passion, from all other animals. — Thomas Hobbes

So easy are men to be drawn to believe any thing, from such men as have gotten credit with them; and can with gentleness and dexterity take hold of their fear and ignorance. — Thomas Hobbes

He that is taken and put into prison or chains is not conquered, though overcome; for he is still an enemy. — Thomas Hobbes

The science which teacheth arts and handicrafts is merely science for the gaining of a living; but the science which teacheth deliverance from worldly existence, is not that the true science? — Thomas Hobbes

The best men are the least suspicious of fraudulent purposes. — Thomas Hobbes

For as to the strength of body, the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest, either by secret machination or by confederacy with others that are in the same danger with himself — Thomas Hobbes

The law is more easily understood by few than many words. For all words are subject to ambiguity, and therefore multiplication of words in the body of the law is multiplication of ambiguity. Besides, it seems to imply (by too much diligence) that whosoever can evade the words is without the compass of the law. — Thomas Hobbes

Thoughts are to the Desires as Scouts and Spies, to range abroad, and find the way to the things Desired. — Thomas Hobbes

Leisure is the mother of Philosophy. — Thomas Hobbes

As a draft-animal is yoked in a wagon, even so the spirit is yoked in this body — Thomas Hobbes

Ambition, and Covetousnesse are Passions that are perpetually incumbent, and pressing. — Thomas Hobbes

True and False are attributes of speech, not of things. And where speech is not, there is neither Truth nor Falsehood. — Thomas Hobbes

Prudence is but experience, which equal time, equally bestows on all men, in those things they equally apply themselves unto. — Thomas Hobbes

Baptism is the sacrament of allegiance of them that are to be received into the Kingdom of God, that is to say, into Eternal life, that is to say, to Remission of Sin. For as Eternal life was lost by the committing, so it is recovered by the remitting of men's sins. — Thomas Hobbes

The value of all things contracted for, is measured by the appetite of the contractors, and therefore the just value is that which they be contented to give. — Thomas Hobbes

Let a man (as most men do) rate themselves as the highest Value they can; yet their true Value is no more than it is esteemed by others. — Thomas Hobbes

A man's conscience and his judgment is the same thing; and as the judgment, so also the conscience, may be erroneous. — Thomas Hobbes

It is manifest therefore that they who have sovereign power, are immediate rulers of the church under Christ, and all others but subordinate to them. If that were not, but kings should command one thing upon pain of death, and priests another upon pain of damnation, it would be impossible that peace and religion should stand together. — Thomas Hobbes

In sum, all actions and habits are to be esteemed good or evil by their causes and usefulness in reference to the commonwealth, and not by their mediocrity, nor by their being commended. For several men praise several customs, and, contrarily, what one calls vice, another calls virtue, as their present affections lead them. — Thomas Hobbes

There be as many persons of a king, as there be petty constables in his kingdom. And so there are, or else he cannot be obeyed. But I never said that a king, and every one of his persons, are the same substance. — Thomas Hobbes

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. — Thomas Hobbes

Science is the knowledge of Consequences, and dependence of one fact upon another: by which, out of that we can presently do, we know how to do something else when we will, or the like, another time — Thomas Hobbes

By how much one man has more experience of things past, than another, by so much also he is more prudent, and his expectations the seldomer fail him. — Thomas Hobbes

A private man has always the liberty (because thought is free) to believe or not believe in his heart those acts that have been given out for miracles, according as he shall see what benefits can accrue by men's belief, to those that pretend, or countenance them, and thereby conjecture whether they be miracles or lies. — Thomas Hobbes

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. — Thomas Hobbes

Whatsoever is the object of any man's Appetite or Desire; that is it which he for his part calleth Good: and the object of his Hate and Aversion, evil. — Thomas Hobbes

For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man's nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice. — Thomas Hobbes

Sudden glory is the passion which makes those grimaces called laughter. — Thomas Hobbes

Leisure is the mother of philosophy; and commonwealth, the mother of peace and leisure. — Thomas Hobbes

A free man is he that, in those things which by his strength and wit he is able to do, is not hindered to do what he has a will to. — Thomas Hobbes

This I know; God cannot sin, because his doing a thing makes it just, and consequently, no sin.... And therefore it is blasphemy to say, God can sin; but to say, that God can so order the world, as a sin may be necessarily caused thereby in a man, I do not see how it is any dishonor to him. — Thomas Hobbes

Seeing then that truth consisteth in the right ordering of names in our affirmations, a man that seeketh precise truth, had need to remember what every name he uses stands for; and to place it accordingly; or else he will find himself entangled in words, as a bird in lime-twigs; the more he struggles, the more belimed. — Thomas Hobbes

Setting themselves against reason, as often as reason is against them. — Thomas Hobbes

Men are not therefore put to death, or punished for that their theft proceedeth from election; but because it was noxious and contrary to men's preservation, and the punishment conducing to the preservation of the rest, inasmuch as to punish those that do voluntary hurt, and none else, frameth and maketh men's wills such as men would have them. — Thomas Hobbes

For seeing life is but a motion of Limbs... why may we not say, that all Automata (Engines that move themselves by springs and wheels as doth a watch) have an artificial life? — Thomas Hobbes

For it is not the bare Words, but the Scope of the writer that giveth true light, by which any writing is to bee interpreted; and they that insist upon single Texts, without considering the main Designe, can derive no thing from them clearly; but rather by casting atomes of Scripture, as dust before mens eyes, make everything more obscure than it is; an ordinary artifice of those who seek not the truth, but their own advantage. — Thomas Hobbes

And as in other things, so in men, not the seller, but the buyer determines the Price. — Thomas Hobbes

Christian Kings may erre in deducing a Consequence, but who shall Judge? — Thomas Hobbes

Because waking I often observe the absurdity of dreams, but never dream of the absurdities of my waking thoughts, I am well satisfied that being awake, I know I dream not; though when I dream, I think myself awake. — Thomas Hobbes

I think, therefore matter is capable of thinking. — Thomas Hobbes

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

For after the subject is removed or the eye shut, we still retain an image of the things seen, though more obscure than when we see it...Imagination, therefore, is nothing more than decaying sense. — Thomas Hobbes

A Law of Nature, (Lex Naturalis) is a Precept, or general Rule, found out by Reason, by which a man is forbidden to do, that, which is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of preserving the same; and to omit, that, by which he thinketh it may be best preserved. — Thomas Hobbes

Life Lessons by Thomas Hobbes

1. Thomas Hobbes believed that life is short and should be lived with purpose and passion. He also believed that life should be lived with humility and that it is important to be aware of the consequences of our actions.
2. Hobbes argued that the key to a successful life is to be aware of our own mortality and to strive for balance between our own desires and the needs of others.
3. He also believed that life should be lived with integrity and that we should strive to be honest and just in our dealings with others.