Thomas Hobbes

Words are the counters of wise men, but the money of fools.

— Thomas Hobbes

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

— Thomas Hobbes

Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.

— Thomas Hobbes

There is more in Mersenne than in all the universities together.

— Thomas Hobbes

The passions of men are commonly more potent than their reason.

— Thomas Hobbes

Curiosity draws a man from consideration of the effect, to seek the cause.

— Thomas Hobbes

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

— Thomas Hobbes

The condition of man... is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.

— Thomas Hobbes

Ignorance of the law is no good excuse, where every man is bound to take notice of the laws to which he…

— Thomas Hobbes

“Look not at the greatness of the evil past, but the greatness of the good to follow.”

— Thomas Hobbes

The first author of speech was God himself, that instructed Adam how to name such creatures as He presented to his sight.

— Thomas Hobbes

A wise man should so write (though in words understood by all men) that wise men only should be able to commend…

— Thomas Hobbes

If men are naturally in a state of war, why do they always carry arms and why do they have keys to…

— Thomas Hobbes

When all the world is overcharged with inhabitants, then the last remedy of all is war, which provideth for every man, by…

— Thomas Hobbes

When two, or more men, know of one and the same fact, they are said to be CONSCIOUS of it one to…

— Thomas Hobbes

Science [is] knowledge of the truth of Propositions and how things are called.

— Thomas Hobbes

The Imagination that is raised in man (or any other creature imbued with the faculty of imagining) by words, or other voluntary…

— Thomas Hobbes

Intemperance is naturally punished with diseases; rashness, with mischance; injustice; with violence of enemies; pride, with ruin; cowardice, with oppression; and rebellion,…

— Thomas Hobbes

Such is the nature of men, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more…

— Thomas Hobbes

The oath adds nothing to the obligation. For a covenant, if lawful, binds in the sight of God, without the oath, as…

— Thomas Hobbes

The right of nature... is the liberty each man hath to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation…

— Thomas Hobbes

The characters of man's heart, blotted and confounded as they are with dissembling, lying, counterfeiting, and erroneous doctrines, are legible only to…

— Thomas Hobbes

Scientia potentia est, sed parva; quia scientia egregia rara est, nec proinde apparens nisi paucissimis, et in paucis rebus. Scientiae enim ea…

— Thomas Hobbes

To this war of every man against every man, this also in consequent; that nothing can be unjust. The notions of right…

— Thomas Hobbes

For such is the nature of men, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or…

— Thomas Hobbes

For if I should not believe all that is written by Historians, of the glorious acts of Alexander, or Caesar; I do…

— Thomas Hobbes

For it is not the bare Words, but the Scope of the writer that giveth true light, by which any writing is…

— Thomas Hobbes

Nature hath made men so equal in the faculties of body and mind, as that though there be found one man sometimes…

— Thomas Hobbes

He that is to govern a whole Nation , must read in himself, not this, or that particular man; but Mankind; which…

— Thomas Hobbes

For WAR, consisteth not in Battle only, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the Will to…

— Thomas Hobbes

When it happeneth that a man signifieth unto us two contradictory opinions whereof the one is clearly and directly signified, andthe other…

— Thomas Hobbes

Nature (the Art whereby God hath made and governs the World) is by the Art of man, as in many other things,…

— Thomas Hobbes

Setting themselves against reason, as often as reason is against them.

— Thomas Hobbes

Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravitation.

— Thomas Hobbes

The best men are the least suspicious of fraudulent purposes.

— Thomas Hobbes

I think, therefore matter is capable of thinking.

— Thomas Hobbes

Time, and Industry, produce everyday new knowledge.

— Thomas Hobbes

So that every Crime is a sinne; but not every sinne a Crime.

— Thomas Hobbes

If nobody makes you do it, it counts as fun.

— Thomas Hobbes

As soon as a thought darts, I write it down.

— Thomas Hobbes