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Government is necessary, not because man is naturally bad... but because man is by nature more individualistic than social.

Thomas Hobbes

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Thomas Hobbes
Age: 91 †
Born: 1588
Born: April 5
Died: 1679
Died: December 4
Economist
Historian
Mathematician
Philosopher
Political Scientist
Politician
Translator
Westport
Wiltshire
Hobbes
Thomas Hobbsted
Thomas Hobbes of Malflutry
Men
Individualistic
Naturally
Necessary
Social
Nature
Government

More quotes by Thomas Hobbes

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And seeing every man is presumed to do all things in order to his own benefit, no man is a fit Arbitrator in his own cause
Thomas Hobbes
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A Law of Nature, (Lex Naturalis) is a Precept, or general Rule, found out by Reason, by which a man is forbidden to do, that, which is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of preserving the same and to omit, that, by which he thinketh it may be best preserved.
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The right of nature... is the liberty each man hath to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own nature that is to say, of his own life.
Thomas Hobbes
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For there are very few so foolish who would not rather govern themselves than be governed by others.
Thomas Hobbes
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No Discourse whatsoever, can End in absolute Knowledge of Fact.
Thomas Hobbes
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There is no such thing as perpetual tranquility of mind while we live here.
Thomas Hobbes
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Covenants without swords are but words.
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Thoughts are to the Desires as Scouts and Spies, to range abroad, and find the way to the things Desired.
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Understanding is nothing else than conception caused by speech.
Thomas Hobbes
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It is many times with a fraudulent Design that men stick their corrupt Doctrine with the Cloves of other mens Wit.
Thomas Hobbes
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All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called 'Facts'. They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain.
Thomas Hobbes
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If this superstitious fear of Spirits were taken away, and with it, Prognostiques from Dreams, false Prophecies, and many other things depending thereon, by which, crafty ambitious persons abuse the simple people, men would be much more fitted then they are for civill Obedience.
Thomas Hobbes
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A man cannot lay down the right of resisting them that assault him by force, to take away his life.
Thomas Hobbes
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During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war and such a war, as if of every man, against every man.
Thomas Hobbes
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It's not the pace of life I mind. It's the sudden stop at the end.
Thomas Hobbes
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If I read as many books as most men do, I would be as dull-witted as they are.
Thomas Hobbes
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Ignorance of the law is no good excuse, where every man is bound to take notice of the laws to which he is subject.
Thomas Hobbes
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Moral philosophy is nothing else but the science of what is good, and evil, in the conversation, and society of mankind. Good, and evil, are names that signify our appetites, and aversions which in different tempers, customs, and doctrines of men, are different.
Thomas Hobbes
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Such truth, as opposeth no man's profit, nor pleasure, is to all men welcome.
Thomas Hobbes
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To speak impartially, both sayings are very true: that man to man is a kind of God and that man to man is an arrant wolf. The first is true, if we compare citizens amongst themselves and the second, if we compare cities.
Thomas Hobbes