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Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes Quotes

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Famous Thomas Hobbes Quotes

“If we could suppose a great multitude of men to consent to the observation of justice, and other laws of Nature, without a common Power to keep them all in awe; we might as well suppose all mankind to do the same; and then there neither would be nor need to be any civil government or commonwealth at all, because there would be Peace without subjection.”

IfsMenNeedsWellsGovernmentMightWould BeLawJusticeCommonMankindObservationAweMultitudesConsentLaws Of NatureCommonwealthSubjection
Book:Leviathan: Or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil
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“He that is to govern a whole Nation , must read in himself, not this, or that particular man; but Mankind; which though it be hard to do, harder than to learn any Language, or Science; yet, when I shall have set down my own reading orderly, and perspicuously, the pains left another, will be only to consider, if he also find not the same in himself. For this kind of Doctrine, admitteth no other Demonstration.”

IfsMenKindHardWholePainReadingLeftLanguageNationsMy OwnMankindParticularHarderDoctrineDemonstrationOrderly
Book:Leviathan - Revised Edition
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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.”

PeopleIfsMenPersonsDreamWould BeSpiritSimpleTakenAbuseObedienceAmbitiousProphecySuperstitiousCraftyAmbitious Person
Book:Annotated LEVIATHAN with English Grammar Exercises: by Thomas Hobbes (Author), Robert Powell (Editor)
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“And I profess still, that whatsoever the church of England (the church, I say, not every doctor) shall forbid me to say in matterof faith, I shall abstain from saying it, excepting this point, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for my sins. As for other doctrines, I think it unlawful, if the church define them, for any member of the church to contradict them.”

IfsThinkingStillsReligionJesusChristChurchSinSonMembersJesus ChristDoctorsEnglandDiedDoctrineUnlawfulChurch Of England
Book:The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury
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“For if I should not believe all that is written by Historians, of the glorious acts of Alexander, or Caesar; I do not think the Ghost of Alexander, or Caesar, had any just cause to be offended; or any body else, but the Historian. If Livy say the Gods made once a Cow speak, and we believe it not; we distrust not God therein, but Livy. So that it is evident, that whatsoever we believe, upon no other reason, then what is drawn from authority of men only, and their writings; whether they be sent from God or not, is Faith in men only.”

IfsThinkingMenShouldWritingBelieveMadeReasonBodyReligionFaithSpeakCausesHistoryWrittenAuthorityGhostGloriousHistorianCowsEvidentDistrustOffended
Book:Hobbes: Leviathan: Revised student edition
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“It is manifest therefore that they who have sovereign power, are immediate rulers of the church under Christ, and all others but subordinate to them. If that were not, but kings should command one thing upon pain of death, and priests another upon pain of damnation, it would be impossible that peace and religion should stand together.”

IfsShouldGovernmentWould BePainTogetherReligionChristChurchImpossibleOne ThingKingsSeparationCommandPriestsManifestRulersSovereignChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateSubordinatesDamnation
Book:The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic: Part I, Human Nature, Part II, De Corpore Politico ; with Three Lives
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“[Necessity is] the sum of all things, which being now existent, conduce and concur to the production of that action hereafter, whereof if any one thing now were wanting, the effect could not be produced. This concourse of causes, whereof every one is determined to be such as it is by a like concourse of former causes, may well be called (in respect they were all set and ordered by the eternal causes of all things, God Almighty) the decree of God.”

IfsWellsMayActionCausesOne ThingEffectsEternalAll ThingsProductionsDeterminedFormerAlmightyHereafterDecreeCausalityConcur
Book:Of Liberty and Necessity; a treatise, wherein all controversy concerning predestination, election, free will, grace, merits, reprobation, etc. is fully decided and cleared. New edition
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“If God bestowed immortality on every man then when he made him, and he made many to whom he never purposed to give his saving grace, what did his Lordship think that God gave any man immortality with purpose only to make him capable of immortal torments? It is a hard saying, and I think cannot piously be believed. I am sure it can never be proved by the canonical Scripture.”

IfsThinkingMenGivingMadeHardPurposeHellGraceCapableMercyEvery ManScriptureSavingImmortalityImmortalTormentLordshipSaving Grace
Book:The Moral and Political Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury: Never Before Collected Together : To which is Prefixed, the Author's Life, Extracted from that Said to be Written by Himself, ...
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“But his Lordship [tells]us that God is wholly here, and wholly there, and wholly every where; because he has no parts. I cannot comprehend nor conceive this. For methinks it implies also that the whole world is also in the whole God, and in every part of God. Norcan I find anything of this in the Scripture. If I could find it there, I could believe it; and if I could find it in the public doctrine of the Church, I could easily abstain from contradicting it.”

IfsWorldBelieveWholeGodChurchBibleScriptureWhole WorldDoctrineIf I CouldContradictingLordship
Author:Thomas Hobbes
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