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Appetite, with an opinion of attaining, is called hope; the same, without such opinion, despair.
Thomas Hobbes -
And therefore in geometry (which is the only science that it hath pleased God hitherto to bestow on mankind), men begin at settling the significations of their words; which settling of significations, they call definitions, and place them in the beginning of their reckoning.
Thomas Hobbes
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... it is one thing to desire, another to be in capacity fit for what we desire.
Thomas Hobbes -
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 -
The most noble and profitable invention of all other, was that of SPEECH, consisting of Names or Appellations, and their Connexion; whereby men register their Thoughts; recall them when they are past; and also declare them one to another for mutuall utility and conversation; without which, there had been amongst men, neither Commonwealth, nor Society, nor Contract, nor Peace, no more than amongst Lyons, Bears, and Wolves.
Thomas Hobbes -
Such truth, as opposeth no man's profit, nor pleasure, is to all men welcome.
Thomas Hobbes -
Understanding is by the flame of the passions never enlightened, but dazzled.
Thomas Hobbes -
Where there is no common power, there is no law.
Thomas Hobbes
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There is no action of man in this life that is not the beginning of so long a chain of consequences as no human providence is high enough to give a man a prospect in the end. And in this chain, there are linked together both pleasing and unpleasing events in such manner as he that will do anything for his pleasure must engage himself to suffer all the pains annexed to it.
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 doors?
Thomas Hobbes -
A naturall foole that could never learn by heart the order of numerall words, as one , two , and three , may observe every stroak of the Clock, and nod to it, or say one, one, one; but can never know what houre it strikes.
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.
Thomas Hobbes -
The Register of Knowledge of Fact is called History.
Thomas Hobbes -
Desire , to know why, and how, CURIOSITY; such as is in no living creature but Man ; so that Man is distinguished, not only by his Reason; but also by this singular Passion from other Animals ; in whom the appetite of food, and other pleasures of Sense, by predominance, take away the care of knowing causes; which is a Lust of the mind, that by a perseverance of delight in the continual and indefatigable generation of Knowledge, exceedeth the short vehemence of any carnal Pleasure.
Thomas Hobbes
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And in these four things, opinion of ghosts , ignorance of second causes, devotion towards what men fear , and taking of things casual for prognostics , consisteth the natural seed of religion ; which by reason of the different fancies, judgments and passions of several men, has grown up into ceremonies so different, that those which are used by one man, are for the most part ridiculous to another.
Thomas Hobbes -
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
Thomas Hobbes -
The first and fundamental law of Nature, which is, to seek peace and follow it.
Thomas Hobbes -
For after the subject is removed or the eye shut, we still retain an image of the things seen, though more obscure than when we see it...Imagination, therefore, is nothing more than decaying sense.
Thomas Hobbes -
So that in the nature of man, we find three principal causes of quarrel. First, competition; secondly, diffidence; thirdly, glory. The first maketh men invade for gain; the second, for safety; and the third, for reputation. The first use violence, to make themselves masters of other men's persons, wives, children, and cattle; the second, to defend them; the third, for trifles, as a word, a smile, a different opinion, and any other sign of undervalue, either direct in their persons or by reflection in their kindred, their friends, their nation, their profession, or their name.
Thomas Hobbes -
The value of all things contracted for, is measured by the appetite of the contractors, and therefore the just value is that which they be contented to give.
Thomas Hobbes
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Man is distinguished not only by his reason, but also by this singular passion, from all other animals.
Thomas Hobbes -
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 -
The first cause of Absurd conclusions I ascribe to the want of Method.
Thomas Hobbes -
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