---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Let a man (as most men do) rate…"
description: "\"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"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/thomas-hobbes-1127_esteemed_let-a-man-as-most-men-do-rate-themselves_108112.jpg"
---

#  Let a man (as most men do) rate themselves as the highest…

![“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.” quote by Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/thomas-hobbes-1127_esteemed_let-a-man-as-most-men-do-rate-themselves_108112.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/thomas-hobbes-1127_esteemed_let-a-man-as-most-men-do-rate-themselves_108112.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/thomas-hobbes-1127_esteemed_let-a-man-as-most-men-do-rate-themselves_108112.jpg)

> “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](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.

People often overestimate their own worth, but true value is determined by how others perceive and treat them, not by self‑ranking.

**In simple terms:** Self‑esteem exceeds external valuation.

Key Takeaway

Worth is socially validated.

Themes

self‑perception social validation humility identity

Mood

thoughtful critical

Type

philosophical advice

When to use this quote

- job performance reviews
- social media presence
- team dynamics

Key Concepts

social comparison theory self‑concept

Practical Applications

- seek feedback
- align self‑view with external input

Questions to Reflect On

- How can we balance internal confidence with external feedback?
- When should we trust our own assessment over others'?

A Different Perspective

External validation can be fickle; relying solely on it may undermine intrinsic confidence.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [True value](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/true-value/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/)

## Related quotes

> [As we advance in life men will rate us, shake us and break us, but how strong we stand in life is what makes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-mamerto/as-we-advance-in-life-men-will-rate-us-shake-us-and-break-us-but-how/)

[Edwin Mamerto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-mamerto/)

> [But tell me: how did gold get to be the highest value? Because it is uncommon and useless and gleaming and gentle in its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/but-tell-me-how-did-gold-get-to-be-the-highest-value-because-it-is/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [Nothing of great value in this life comes easily. The things of highest value sometimes come hard. The gold that has the greatest value…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-vincent-peale/nothing-of-great-value-in-this-life-comes-easily-the-things-of/)

[Norman Vincent Peale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-vincent-peale/)

> [National honor is national property of the highest value.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-monroe/national-honor-is-national-property-of-the-highest-value/)

[James Monroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-monroe/)

> [If you have hitherto believed that life was one of the highest value and now see yourselves disappointed, do you at once have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/if-you-have-hitherto-believed-that-life-was-one-of-the-highest-value/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [National honor is the national property of the highest value.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-monroe/national-honor-is-the-national-property-of-the-highest-value/)

[James Monroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-monroe/)

> [I focus on things that are the highest value and do them perfectly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-parker/i-focus-on-things-that-are-the-highest-value-and-do-them-perfectly/)

[Sean Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-parker/)

> [Intimacy, says the phenomenologist Gaston Bachelard, is the highest value. I resist this statement at first. What about artistic achievement, or moral courage, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/intimacy-says-the-phenomenologist-gaston-bachelard-is-the-highest/)

[Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/)

> [“Most people equate value with money, and money does have value. But the highest value-the most important value-is the value you create with your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-andrews-the-noticer-returns/most-people-equate-value-with-money-and-money-does-have-value-but-the/)

Andy Andrews-The Noticer Returns

> [To me, the simplest things can have the highest value.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brunello-cucinelli/to-me-the-simplest-things-can-have-the-highest-value/)

[Brunello Cucinelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brunello-cucinelli/)

> [My highest value is not that the trains are on time. I want to be free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherry-turkle/my-highest-value-is-not-that-the-trains-are-on-time-i-want-to-be-free/)

[Sherry Turkle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherry-turkle/)

> [The only basis on which to work for God is an esteemed appreciation of his deliverance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/the-only-basis-on-which-to-work-for-god-is-an-esteemed-appreciation/)

[Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/)

> [That prince is highly esteemed who conveys this impression of himself, and he who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against; for, provided…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccolo-machiavelli/that-prince-is-highly-esteemed-who-conveys-this-impression-of-himself/)

[Niccolo Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccolo-machiavelli/)

> [The military is the most esteemed American institution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brianna-keilar/the-military-is-the-most-esteemed-american-institution/)

[Brianna Keilar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brianna-keilar/)

> [“He who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolo-machiavelli/he-who-is-highly-esteemed-is-not-easily-conspired-against/)

[Nicolo Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolo-machiavelli/)

## 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/)

> [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/)

> [Unnecessary laws are not good laws, but traps for money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/unnecessary-laws-are-not-good-laws-but-traps-for-money/)

[Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/)

[Explore all 285 Thomas Hobbes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/)

## More Esteemed quotes

> [“He who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolo-machiavelli/he-who-is-highly-esteemed-is-not-easily-conspired-against/)

[Nicolo Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolo-machiavelli/)

> [The military is the most esteemed American institution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brianna-keilar/the-military-is-the-most-esteemed-american-institution/)

[Brianna Keilar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brianna-keilar/)

> [That prince is highly esteemed who conveys this impression of himself, and he who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against; for, provided…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccolo-machiavelli/that-prince-is-highly-esteemed-who-conveys-this-impression-of-himself/)

[Niccolo Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccolo-machiavelli/)

> [The only basis on which to work for God is an esteemed appreciation of his deliverance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/the-only-basis-on-which-to-work-for-god-is-an-esteemed-appreciation/)

[Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/)

> [Women are far and away the bigger consumers of fiction than men, but men are still far and away the more reviewed, the more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-weiner/women-are-far-and-away-the-bigger-consumers-of-fiction-than-men-but/)

[Jennifer Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-weiner/)

> [“I learned that the possessions most esteemed by your fellow-creatures were, high and unsullied descent united with riches. A man might be respected with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-shelley/i-learned-that-the-possessions-most-esteemed-by-your-fellow-creatures/)

[Mary Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-shelley/)

> [He who does not think much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/he-who-does-not-think-much-of-himself-is-much-more-esteemed-than-he/)

[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/)

> [No man can have much kindness for him by whom he does not believe himself esteemed, and nothing so evidently proves esteem as imitation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/no-man-can-have-much-kindness-for-him-by-whom-he-does-not-believe/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [Even a nod from a person who is esteemed is of more force than a thousand arguments or studied sentences from others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plutarch/even-a-nod-from-a-person-who-is-esteemed-is-of-more-force-than-a/)

[Plutarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plutarch/)

> [I want it understood that all these men fought for principle, not for plunder, and that they were true-hearted, honorable soldiers, fighting for what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cole-younger/i-want-it-understood-that-all-these-men-fought-for-principle-not-for/)

[Cole Younger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cole-younger/)

> [A shepherd, in whom the spirit of God works, is more highly esteemed before God than the wisest and most potent in self-wit, without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jakob-bohme/a-shepherd-in-whom-the-spirit-of-god-works-is-more-highly-esteemed/)

[Jakob Bohme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jakob-bohme/)

> [Man believes himself always greater than he is, and is esteemed less than he is worth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/man-believes-himself-always-greater-than-he-is-and-is-esteemed-less/)

[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/)

> [Who is only good that others may know it, and that he may be the better esteemed when 'tis known, who will do well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/who-is-only-good-that-others-may-know-it-and-that-he-may-be-the/)

[Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/)

> [Noble descent and worth, unless united with wealth, are esteemed no more than seaweed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/noble-descent-and-worth-unless-united-with-wealth-are-esteemed-no/)

[Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/)

> [Would you be esteemed? Live with persons that are estimable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-therese-de-marguenat-de-courcelles/would-you-be-esteemed-live-with-persons-that-are-estimable/)

[Anne-Therese de Marguenat de Courcelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-therese-de-marguenat-de-courcelles/)

Browse all 40 Esteemed quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "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.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Thomas Hobbes"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/let-a-man-as-most-men-do-rate-themselves-as-the-highest-value-they/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Esteemed"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/let-a-man-as-most-men-do-rate-themselves-as-the-highest-value-they/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/thomas-hobbes-1127_esteemed_let-a-man-as-most-men-do-rate-themselves_108112.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/thomas-hobbes-1127_esteemed_let-a-man-as-most-men-do-rate-themselves_108112.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa5/thomas-hobbes-1127_esteemed_let-a-man-as-most-men-do-rate-themselves_108112.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Let a man (as most men do) rate themselves as the highest Value they can; yet their true Value is no more…” — 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": "Let a man (as most men...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/let-a-man-as-most-men-do-rate-themselves-as-the-highest-value-they/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/let-a-man-as-most-men-do-rate-themselves-as-the-highest-value-they/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
