--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: By how much one man has more experience…" description: "\"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.\" ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07f/thomas-hobbes-1127_expectations_by-how-much-one-man-has-more-experience_2900545.jpg" --- # By how much one man has more experience of things past… ![“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.” quote by Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07f/thomas-hobbes-1127_expectations_by-how-much-one-man-has-more-experience_2900545.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07f/thomas-hobbes-1127_expectations_by-how-much-one-man-has-more-experience_2900545.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07f/thomas-hobbes-1127_expectations_by-how-much-one-man-has-more-experience_2900545.jpg) > “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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Experience breeds prudence; however, greater experience also raises expectations that may often be unmet. **In simple terms:** Experience increases caution but also expectations. Key Takeaway Balance expectations with realistic outcomes. Themes philosophy experience prudence expectations Mood analytical reflective Type philosophical practical When to use this quote - leadership - policy - personal life Key Concepts risk assessment decision making Questions to Reflect On - When should you trust intuition over experience? - How to manage high expectations? A Different Perspective Over‑reliance on experience may cause rigidity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Expectations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expectations/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Things past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-past/) ## Related quotes > [To state the facts frankly is not to despair the future nor indict the past. The prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kennedy/to-state-the-facts-frankly-is-not-to-despair-the-future-nor-indict/) [John F. Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) > [The Present only has a being in Nature; things Past have a being in the Memory only, but things to come have no being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/the-present-only-has-a-being-in-nature-things-past-have-a-being-in/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [ He that has most experience \[is\] so much more prudent than he that is new, as not to be equalled by any advantage of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/he-that-has-most-experience-is-so-much-more-prudent-than-he-that-is/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [Man's experience in the world is to enable him to get out of its whirlpool.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/man-s-experience-in-the-world-is-to-enable-him-to-get-out-of-its/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [Man is not the source of all things, as the subjective idealists would say. Nor is he the passive observer of all things, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/man-is-not-the-source-of-all-things-as-the-subjective-idealists-would/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [The beautiful exists just as little as the true. In every case it is a question of the conditions of preservation of a certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-beautiful-exists-just-as-little-as-the-true-in-every-case-it-is-a/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“An optimist is a man who has never had much experience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-marquis/an-optimist-is-a-man-who-has-never-had-much-experience/) [Don Marquis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-marquis/) > [A man with an experience of God is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-ravenhill/a-man-with-an-experience-of-god-is-never-at-the-mercy-of-a-man-with/) [Leonard Ravenhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-ravenhill/) > [Remember, young man, experience is not the best teacher. Other people's experience is the best teacher. By reading about the lives of great people,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-andrews/remember-young-man-experience-is-not-the-best-teacher-other-people-s/) [Andy Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-andrews/) > [Experience is a poor guide to man, and is seldom followed. What really teaches a man is not experience, but observation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/experience-is-a-poor-guide-to-man-and-is-seldom-followed-what-really/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [On the one hand, man is a body, in the same way that this may be said of every other animal organism. On the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-l-berger/on-the-one-hand-man-is-a-body-in-the-same-way-that-this-may-be-said/) [Peter L. Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-l-berger/) > [It is every intelligent man's experience that evildoing recoils on the doer sooner or later.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/it-is-every-intelligent-man-s-experience-that-evildoing-recoils-on/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [“Levin had been married three months. He was happy, but not at all in the way he had expected to be. At every step…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/levin-had-been-married-three-months-he-was-happy-but-not-at-all-in/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [But a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with only an argument. ... If we can lead people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tommy-tenney/but-a-man-with-an-experience-is-never-at-the-mercy-of-a-man-with-only/) [Tommy Tenney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tommy-tenney/) > [ the ordinary man's experience is chaotic, irregular, fragmentary. \[He\] falls in love or reads Spinoza, and these two experiences have nothing to do with… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-ordinary-man-s-experience-is-chaotic-irregular-fragmentary-he/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## More by Thomas Hobbes > [“Give an inch, he'll take an ell.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/give-an-inch-he-ll-take-an-ell/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [Do not that to another, which thou wouldst not have done to thyself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/do-not-that-to-another-which-thou-wouldst-not-have-done-to-thyself/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [For it is with the mysteries of our religion, as with wholesome pills for the sick, which swallowed whole, have the virtue to cure;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/for-it-is-with-the-mysteries-of-our-religion-as-with-wholesome-pills/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/intemperance-is-naturally-punished-with-diseases-rashness-with/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [A man's conscience and his judgment is the same thing; and as the judgment, so also the conscience, may be erroneous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/a-man-s-conscience-and-his-judgment-is-the-same-thing-and-as-the/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [He that is to govern a whole Nation , must read in himself, not this, or that particular man; but Mankind; which though it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/he-that-is-to-govern-a-whole-nation-must-read-in-himself-not-this-or/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/if-men-are-naturally-in-a-state-of-war-why-do-they-always-carry-arms/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/let-a-man-as-most-men-do-rate-themselves-as-the-highest-value-they/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/a-free-man-is-he-that-in-those-things-which-by-his-strength-and-wit/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [“Covenants, without the sword, are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/covenants-without-the-sword-are-but-words-and-of-no-strength-to/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [Fear of things invisible in the natural seed of that which everyone in himself calleth religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/fear-of-things-invisible-in-the-natural-seed-of-that-which-everyone/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/because-silver-and-gold-have-their-value-from-the-matter-itself-they/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [What reason is there that he which laboreth much, and, sparing the fruits of his labor, consumeth little, should be more charged than he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/what-reason-is-there-that-he-which-laboreth-much-and-sparing-the/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [The cause of Sense, is the External Body, or Object, which presseth the organ proper to each Sense, either immediately, as in theTaste and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/the-cause-of-sense-is-the-external-body-or-object-which-presseth-the/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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 him that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/the-characters-of-man-s-heart-blotted-and-confounded-as-they-are-with/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) [Explore all 285 Thomas Hobbes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) ## More Expectations quotes > [Balance suggests a perfect equilibrium. There is no such thing. That is a false expectation… There are going to be priorities and dimensions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denise-morrison/balance-suggests-a-perfect-equilibrium-there-is-no-such-thing-that-is/) [Denise Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denise-morrison/) > [My mom had very low expectations for me, and she really had a point. I was a big problem at seventeen. If I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/my-mom-had-very-low-expectations-for-me-and-she-really-had-a-point-i/) [Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/) > [I've long believed one of the mainsprings of our own liberty has been the widespread ownership of property among our people and the expectation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/i-ve-long-believed-one-of-the-mainsprings-of-our-own-liberty-has-been/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [I say this all the time: I've always been really good at managing my expectations so that I'm not let down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brett-young/i-say-this-all-the-time-i-ve-always-been-really-good-at-managing-my/) [Brett Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brett-young/) > [When Allah puts barakah (His blessings) in something, it will come beyond your expectations- never underestimate the power of one good deed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nouman-ali-khan/when-allah-puts-barakah-his-blessings-in-something-it-will-come/) [Nouman Ali Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nouman-ali-khan/) > [Keeping up with everybody's expectation is soooo hard!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi/keeping-up-with-everybody-s-expectation-is-soooo-hard/) [Naomi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi/) > [I recognize I am essentially a failed human being in the sense that I can't possibly live up to the expectations of an Almighty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/i-recognize-i-am-essentially-a-failed-human-being-in-the-sense-that-i/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [We're wired to expect the world to be brighter and more meaningful and more obviously interesting than it actually is. And when we realize…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lev-grossman/we-re-wired-to-expect-the-world-to-be-brighter-and-more-meaningful/) [Lev Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lev-grossman/) > [“Does your reality match your expectations? If not it's time to change either your expectations or your reality.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-redhead/does-your-reality-match-your-expectations-if-not-it-s-time-to-change/) [Steven Redhead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-redhead/) > [Jesus' kingdom was not like the popular expectation. He used the phrase 'kingdom of God' with a different meaning. His kingdom was not of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-harpur/jesus-kingdom-was-not-like-the-popular-expectation-he-used-the-phrase/) [Tom Harpur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-harpur/) > [Disappointment contains an appointment for doing much better. High expectations mean your higher capacity and belief in abilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tasneem-hameed/disappointment-contains-an-appointment-for-doing-much-better-high/) [Tasneem Hameed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tasneem-hameed/) > [It's a good place when all you have is hope and not expectations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danny-boyle/it-s-a-good-place-when-all-you-have-is-hope-and-not-expectations/) [Danny Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danny-boyle/) > [When we give from a place of love, rather than from a place of expectation, more usually comes back to us than we could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-jeffers/when-we-give-from-a-place-of-love-rather-than-from-a-place-of/) [Susan Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-jeffers/) > [Everybody out there watches the show and has expectations of wanting to be an 'Idol', but we're going to teach them how much hard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bo-bice/everybody-out-there-watches-the-show-and-has-expectations-of-wanting/) [Bo Bice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bo-bice/) > [When we fall utterly, something gathers us up. But our falling must be without reservation, without expectation, without hope, though not hopeless. You cant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-housden/when-we-fall-utterly-something-gathers-us-up-but-our-falling-must-be/) [Roger Housden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-housden/) [Browse all 4,210 Expectations quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expectations/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Hobbes" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/by-how-much-one-man-has-more-experience-of-things-past-than-another/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Expectations" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/by-how-much-one-man-has-more-experience-of-things-past-than-another/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07f/thomas-hobbes-1127_expectations_by-how-much-one-man-has-more-experience_2900545.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07f/thomas-hobbes-1127_expectations_by-how-much-one-man-has-more-experience_2900545.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07f/thomas-hobbes-1127_expectations_by-how-much-one-man-has-more-experience_2900545.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“By how much one man has more experience of things past, than another, by so much also he is more prudent…” — Thomas Hobbes", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "By how much one man has...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/by-how-much-one-man-has-more-experience-of-things-past-than-another/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/by-how-much-one-man-has-more-experience-of-things-past-than-another/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```