The end of knowledge is power ... the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action or thing to be done. Thomas Hobbes More Quotes by Thomas Hobbes More Quotes From 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 covenant void men Good and Evil are names that signify our appetites and aversions, which in different tempers, customs, and doctrines of men, are different: And diverse men differ not only in their judgment, on the senses of what is pleasant and unpleasant to the taste, smell, hearing, touch, and sight, but also of what is conformable, or disagreeable to Reason, in the actions of the common life. Nay, the same man, in diverse times, differs from himself, and one time praiseth, that is, calleth Good, what another time he dispraiseth, and calleth Evil. Thomas Hobbes names sight men Scientia potentia est, sed parva; quia scientia egregia rara est, nec proinde apparens nisi paucissimis, et in paucis rebus. Scientiae enim ea natura est, ut esse intelligi non possit, nisi ab illis qui sunt scientia praediti. Thomas Hobbes power science knowledge 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 political pride enemy 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 passion errors ignorance And because the condition of Man, (as hath been declared in the precedent Chapter) is a condition of Warre of every one against everyone; in which case every one is governed by his own Reason; and there is nothing he can make use of, that may not be a help unto him, in preserving his life against his enemyes; It followeth, that in such a condition, every man has a Right to every thing; even to one anothers body. Thomas Hobbes body may men The power of a man is his present means to obtain some future apparent good. Thomas Hobbes goodness men mean Obligation is thraldom, and thraldom is hateful. Thomas Hobbes hateful obligation If any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies. Thomas Hobbes men two enemy The best men are the least suspicious of fraudulent purposes. Thomas Hobbes atheism purpose men Understanding is nothing else than conception caused by speech. Thomas Hobbes philosophical speech understanding Every man may think his own cause just till it be heard and judged. Thomas Hobbes may men thinking 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 keys men war 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 horizon dawn spirit The Register of Knowledge of Fact is called History . Thomas Hobbes register facts 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 would-be work men 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 future memories past 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 progress desire way A man cannot lay down the right of resisting them that assault him by force, to take away his life. Thomas Hobbes philosophical men life Desire of praise disposeth to laudable actions. Thomas Hobbes praise action desire
