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

For naturall Bloud is in like manner made of the fruits of the Earth; and circulating, nourisheth by the way, every Member…

— Thomas Hobbes

Understanding is by the flame of the passions never enlightened, but dazzled.

— Thomas Hobbes

... it is one thing to desire, another to be in capacity fit for what we desire.

— Thomas Hobbes

For all uniting of strength by private men, is, if for evil intent, unjust; if for intent unknown, dangerous to the Publique,…

— Thomas Hobbes

The power of a man is his present means to obtain some future apparent good.

— Thomas Hobbes

The Papacy is not other than the Ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof.

— Thomas Hobbes

“Nor can a man any more live, whose Desires are at an end, than he, whose Senses and Imaginations are at a…

— Thomas Hobbes

But yet they that have no Science , are in better, and nobler condition with their naturall Prudence; than men, that by…

— Thomas Hobbes

For as to the strength of body, the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest, either by secret machination or by…

— 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,…

— Thomas Hobbes

The science which teacheth arts and handicrafts is merely science for the gaining of a living; but the science which teacheth deliverance…

— Thomas Hobbes

The disembodied spirit is immortal; there is nothing of it that can grow old or die. But the embodied spirit sees death…

— Thomas Hobbes

The errors of definitions multiply themselves according as the reckoning proceeds; and lead men into absurdities, which at last they see but…

— Thomas Hobbes

As, in Sense, that which is really within us, is (as I have said before) only Motion, caused by the action of…

— Thomas Hobbes

Heresy is a word which, when it is used without passion, signifies a private opinion. So the different sects of the old…

— Thomas Hobbes

From whence it happens, that they which trust to books, do as they that cast up many little sums into a greater,…

— Thomas Hobbes

The cause of Sense, is the External Body, or Object, which presseth the organ proper to each Sense, either immediately, as in…

— Thomas Hobbes

“In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no Culture of the Earth;…

— Thomas Hobbes

We are not to renounce our senses and experience, nor (that which is the undoubted Word of God) our natural Reason. For…

— Thomas Hobbes

A private man has always the liberty (because thought is free) to believe or not believe in his heart those acts that…

— Thomas Hobbes

But his Lordship [tells]us that God is wholly here, and wholly there, and wholly every where; because he has no parts. I…

— Thomas Hobbes

There is no action of man in this life that is not the beginning of so long a chain of consequences as…

— Thomas Hobbes

Let a man (as most men do) rate themselves as the highest Value they can; yet their true Value is no more…

— Thomas Hobbes

The Enemy has been here in the night of our natural ignorance, and sown the tares of spiritual errors.

— Thomas Hobbes

And seeing every man is presumed to do all things in order to his own benefit, no man is a fit Arbitrator…

— Thomas Hobbes

I put for the general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in…

— Thomas Hobbes

The privilege of absurdity; to which no living creature is subject, but man only.

— Thomas Hobbes

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

— Thomas Hobbes

“Covenants, without the sword, are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all.”

— Thomas Hobbes

That a man be willing, when others are so too, as far forth as for peace and defense of himself he shall…

— Thomas Hobbes

But all this language gotten, and augmented by Adam and his posterity, was again lost at the tower of Babel , when…

— Thomas Hobbes

This I know; God cannot sin, because his doing a thing makes it just, and consequently, no sin… And therefore it is…

— Thomas Hobbes

And if a man consider the original of this great Ecclesiastical Dominion, he will easily perceive, that the Papacy , is no…

— Thomas Hobbes

Opinion of ghosts, ignorance of second causes, devotion to what men fear, and talking of things casual for prognostics, consisteth the natural…

— Thomas Hobbes

Those men that are so remissly governed that they dare take up arms to defend or introduce an opinion, are still in…

— Thomas Hobbes

As in the presence of the Master, the Servants are equall, and without any honour at all; So are the Subjects, in…

— Thomas Hobbes

When the nature of the thing is incomprehensible, I can acquiesce in the Scripture: but when the signification of words is incomprehensible,…

— Thomas Hobbes

A democracy is no more than an aristocracy of orators. The people are so readily moved by demagogues that control must be…

— Thomas Hobbes

A Law of Nature, (Lex Naturalis) is a Precept, or general Rule, found out by Reason, by which a man is forbidden…

— Thomas Hobbes