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True And False Are Attributes Of Speech, Not Of Things. And Where Speech Is Not, There Is Neither Truth Nor Falsehood.
-Thomas Hobbes
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True And False Are

Thomas Hobbes
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True And False Are Attributes Of Speech, Not Of Things. And Where Speech Is Not, There Is Neither Truth Nor Falsehood.

Understanding the Quote: "true and false are attributes of speech, not of things. and where..."

This quote by Thomas Hobbes reflects deeply on the theme of truth. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Truth, True And False, Speech, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Thomas Hobbes interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes is celebrated for insightful thoughts on truth and true and false. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Truth
True And False
Speech
More From Thomas Hobbes
Immortality Is A Belief Grounded Upon Other Men's Sayings, That They Knew It Supernaturally; Or That They Knew Those Who Knew Them That Knew Others That Knew It Supernaturally.
Men
Atheism
Belief
For It Is Not The Bare Words, But The Scope Of The Writer That Giveth True Light, By Which Any Writing Is To Bee Interpreted; And They That Insist Upon Single Texts, Without Considering The Main Designe, Can Derive No Thing From Them Clearly; But Rather By Casting Atomes Of Scripture, As Dust Before Mens Eyes, Make Everything More Obscure Than It Is; An Ordinary Artifice Of Those Who Seek Not The Truth, But Their Own Advantage.
Eye
Writing
Light
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.
Men
Thinking
Giving
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.
Life
Nature
Men
Words Are Wise Men's Counters, They Do But Reckon By Them: But They Are The Money Of Fools, That Value Them By The Authority Of An Aristotle, A Cicero, Or A Thomas, Or Any Other Doctor Whatsoever, If But A Man.
Wise
Men
Doctors
There Be As Many Persons Of A King, As There Be Petty Constables In His Kingdom. And So There Are, Or Else He Cannot Be Obeyed. But I Never Said That A King, And Every One Of His Persons, Are The Same Substance.
Kings
Identity
Substance
The Privilege Of Absurdity; To Which No Living Creature Is Subject, But Man Only.
Life
Philosophical
Men
It Is Fairer To Tax People On What They Extract From The Economy, As Roughly Measured By Their Consumption, Than To Tax Them On What They Produce For The Economy, As Roughly Measured By Their Income.
People
Income
Economy
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.
Men
Cities
Citizens
And For Incoherent Speech, It Was Amongst The Gentiles Taken For One Sort Of Prophecy, Because The Prophets Of Their Oracles, Intoxicated With A Spirit, Or Vapor From The Cave Of The Pythian Oracle At Delphi, Were For A Time Really Mad, And Spake Like Mad-men; Of Whoose Loose Words A Sense Might Be Made To Fit Any Event, In Such Sort, As All Bodies Are Said To Be Made Of Materia Prima .
Taken
Men
Mad
To Conclude, The Light Of Humane Minds Is Perspicuous Words, But By Exact Definitions First Snuffed, And Purged From Ambiguity; Reason Is The Pace; Encrease Of Science, The Way; And The Benefit Of Man-kind, The End.
Science
Men
Light
Humans Are Driven By A Perpetual And Restless Desire Of Power.
Desire
Restless
Driven
Corporations Are "worms In The Body Politic"
Body
Corporations
Worms
War Consisteth Not In Battle Only, Or The Act Of Fighting; But In A Tract Of Time, Wherein The Will To Contend By Battle Is Sufficiently Known.
War
Fighting
Battle
Unnecessary Laws Are Not Good Laws, But Traps For Money.
Freedom
Law
Liberty
Silence Is Sometimes An Argument Of Consent.
Silence
Atheism
Argument
For It Can Never Be That War Shall Preserve Life, And Peace Destroy It.
War
Preserves
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.
Men
Law
Justice
By Consequence, Or Train Of Thoughts, I Understand That Succession Of One Thought To Another Which Is Called, To Distinguish It From Discourse In Words, Mental Discourse. When A Man Thinketh On Anything Whatsoever, His Next Thought After Is Not Altogether So Casual As It Seems To Be. Not Every Thought To Every Thought Succeeds Indifferently.
Men
Train Of Thought
Next
As In The Presence Of The Master, The Servants Are Equall, And Without Any Honour At All; So Are The Subjects, In The Presence Of The Soveraign. And Though They Shine Some More, Some Lesse, When They Are Out Of His Sight; Yet In His Presence, They Shine No More Than The Starres In Presence Of The Sun.
Sight
Shining
Sun
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.
Science
Past
Men
A Free Man Is He That, In Those Things Which By His Strength And Wit He Is Able To Do, Is Not Hindered To Do What He Has A Will To.
Men
Liberty
Able
There Is No Such Thing As Perpetual Tranquillity Of Mind While We Live Here; Because Life Itself Is But Motion, And Can Never Be Without Desire, Nor Without Fear, No More Than Without Sense.
Fear
Mind
Desire
As Soon As A Thought Darts, I Write It Down.
Writing
Preparation
Darts
Do Not That To Another, Which Thou Wouldst Not Have Done To Thyself.
Done
Thyself
Nature (the Art Whereby God Hath Made And Governs The World) Is By The Art Of Man, As In Many Other Things, So In This Also Imitated, That It Can Make An Artificial Animal. For Seeing Life Is But A Motion Of Limbs, The Beginning Whereof Is In Some Principal Part Within; Why May We Not Say, That All Automata (engines That Move Themselves By Springs And Wheels As Doth A Watch) Have An Artificial Life?
Art
Nature
Spring
Setting Themselves Against Reason, As Often As Reason Is Against Them.
Reason
Settings
Setting
But They That Hold God To Be [an Incorporeal Substance]do Absolutely Make God To Be Nothing At All. But How? Were They Atheists? No. For Though By Ignorance Of The Consequence They Said That Which Was Equivalent To Atheism, Yet In Their Hearts They Thought God A Substanceso That This Atheism By Consequence Is A Very Easy Thing To Be Fallen Into, Even By The Most Godly Men Of The Church.
Atheist
Heart
Ignorance
Such Is The Nature Of Men, That Howsoever They May Acknowledge Many Others To Be More Witty, Or More Eloquent, Or More Learned; Yet They Will Hardly Believe There Be Many So Wise As Themselves.
Wise
Wisdom
Witty
Emulation Is Grief Arising From Seeing One's Self, Exceeded Or Excelled By His Concurrent, Together With Hope To Equal Or Exceed Him In Time To Come, By His Own Ability. But Envy Is The Same Grief Joined With Pleasure Conceived In The Imagination Of Some Ill-fortune That May Befall Him.
Grief
Self
Envy
For All Uniting Of Strength By Private Men, Is, If For Evil Intent, Unjust; If For Intent Unknown, Dangerous To The Publique, And Unjustly Concealed.
Men
Evil
Uniting
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
Men
Order
Causes
Men Are Not Therefore Put To Death, Or Punished For That Their Theft Proceedeth From Election; But Because It Was Noxious And Contrary To Men's Preservation, And The Punishment Conducing To The Preservation Of The Rest, Inasmuch As To Punish Those That Do Voluntary Hurt, And None Else, Frameth And Maketh Men's Wills Such As Men Would Have Them.
Hurt
Men
Election
It's Not The Pace Of Life I Mind. It's The Sudden Stop At The End.
Mind
Pace
Ends
We Are Not To Renounce Our Senses And Experience, Nor (that Which Is The Undoubted Word Of God) Our Natural Reason. For They Are The Talents Which He Hath Put Into Our Hands To Negotiate, Till The Coming Again Of Our Blessed Savior, And Therefore Not To Be Folded Up In The Napkin Of An Implicate Faith, But Employed In The Purchase Of Justice, Peace, And True Religion. For Though There Be Many Things In God's Word Above Reason--that Is To Say, Which Cannot By Natural Reason Be Either Demonstrated Or Confuted--yet There Is Nothing Contrary To It.
Blessed
Hands
Justice
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.
Pain
Reading
Men
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.
Philosophy
Men
Names
I Am About To Take My Last Voyage, A Great Leap In The Dark.
Philosophical
Dark
Journey
Intemperance Is Naturally Punished With Diseases; Rashness, With Mischance; Injustice; With Violence Of Enemies; Pride, With Ruin; Cowardice, With Oppression; And Rebellion, With Slaughter.
Pride
Political
Enemy
For Naturall Bloud Is In Like Manner Made Of The Fruits Of The Earth; And Circulating, Nourisheth By The Way, Every Member Of The Body Of Man.
Men
Body
Earth
The Cause Of Sense, Is The External Body, Or Object, Which Presseth The Organ Proper To Each Sense, Either Immediately, As In Thetaste And Touch; Or Mediately, As In Seeing, Hearing, And Smelling: Which Pressure, By The Mediation Of Nerves, And Other Strings, And Membranes Of The Body, Continued Inwards To The Brain, And Heart, Causeth There A Resistance, Or Counter- Pressure, Or Endeavor Of The Heart, To Deliver It Self: Which Endeavor Because Outward, Seemeth To Be Some Matter Without.
Nature
Heart
Self
What Reason Is There That He Which Laboreth Much, And, Sparing The Fruits Of His Labor, Consumeth Little, Should Be More Charged Than He That, Living Idly, Getteth Little And Spendeth All He Gets, Seeing The One Hath No More Protection From The Commonwealth Than The Other?
Liberty
Littles
Fruit
All Generous Minds Have A Horror Of What Are Commonly Called 'facts'. They Are The Brute Beasts Of The Intellectual Domain.
Intellectual
Mind
Facts
Religions Are Like Pills, Which Must Be Swallowed Whole Without Chewing.
Atheist
Atheism
Pills
Prophecy Is Many Times The Principal Cause Of The Events Foretold.
Events
Causes
Prophecy
When It Happeneth That A Man Signifieth Unto Us Two Contradictory Opinions Whereof The One Is Clearly And Directly Signified, Andthe Other Either Drawn From That By Consequence, Or Not Known To Be Contradictory To It; Then (when He Is Not Present To Explicate Himself Better) We Are To Take The Former Of His Opinions; For That Is Clearly Signified To Be His, And Directly, Whereas The Other Might Proceed From Error In The Deduction, Or Ignorance Of The Repugnancy.
Ignorance
Men
Errors
Whatsoever Accidents Or Qualities Our Senses Make Us Think There Be In The World, They Are Not There, But Are Seemings And Apparitions Only. The Things That Really Are In The World Without Us, Are Those Motions By Which These Seemings Are Caused. And This Is The Great Deception Of Sense, Which Also Is By Sense To Be Corrected. For As Sense Telleth Me, When I See Directly, That The Colour Seemeth To Be In The Object; So Also Sense Telleth Me, When I See By Reflection, That Colour Is Not In The Object.
Science
Thinking
Reflection
The Pacts And Covenants, By Which The Parts Of This Body Politique Were At First Made, Set Together, And United, Resemble That Fiat, Or The Let Us Make Man, Pronounced By God In The Creation.
God
Men
Together
[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.
May
Causality
Causes
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.
Progress
Desire
Way
The Errors Of Definitions Multiply Themselves According As The Reckoning Proceeds; And Lead Men Into Absurdities, Which At Last They See But Cannot Avoid, Without Reckoning Anew From The Beginning.
Truth
Knowledge
Math
Reason Is The Soul Of The Law.
Law
Political
Soul
The Scripture Was Written To Shew Unto Men The Kingdom Of God; And To Prepare Their Minds To Become His Obedient Subjects; Leavingthe World, And The Philosophy Thereof, To The Disputation Of Men, For The Exercising Of Their Natural Reason.
Bible
Philosophy
Philosophical
Sudden Glory Is The Passion Which Maketh Those Grimaces Called Laughter.
Happiness
Laughter
Philosophical
Subjects Have No Greater Liberty In A Popular Than In A Monarchial State. That Which Deceives Them Is The Equal Participation Of Command.
Liberty
Deceiving
States
I Mean By The Universe, The Aggregate Of All Things That Have Being In Themselves; And So Do All Men Else. And Because God Has A Being, It Follows That He Is Either The Whole Universe, Or Part Of It. Nor Does His Lordship Go About To Disprove It, But Only Seems To Wonder At It.
God
Mean
Men
Laughter Is Nothing Else But Sudden Glory Arising From Some Sudden Conception Of Some Eminency In Ourselves, By Comparison With The Infirmity Of Others, Or With Our Own Formerly.
Happiness
Laughter
Joy
Science Is The Knowledge Of Consequences, And Dependence Of One Fact Upon Another: By Which, Out Of That We Can Presently Do, We Know How To Do Something Else When We Will, Or The Like, Another Time
Facts
Know How
Another Time
Every Man May Think His Own Cause Just Till It Be Heard And Judged.
Men
Thinking
May
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.
Memories
Future
Past
Understanding Is Nothing Else Than Conception Caused By Speech.
Philosophical
Understanding
Speech
That A Man Be Willing, When Others Are So Too, As Far Forth As For Peace And Defense Of Himself He Shall Think It Necessary, To Lay Down This Right To All Things; And Be Contented With So Much Liberty Against Other Men, As He Would Allow Other Men Against Himself.
Peace
Men
Thinking
Opinion Of Ghosts, Ignorance Of Second Causes, Devotion To What Men Fear, And Talking Of Things Casual For Prognostics, Consisteth The Natural Seeds Of Religion
Ignorance
Men
Talking
And If A Man Consider The Original Of This Great Ecclesiastical Dominion, He Will Easily Perceive, That The Papacy , Is No Other Than The Ghost Of The Deceased Romane Empire , Sitting Crowned Upon The Grave Thereof: For So Did The Papacy Start Up On A Sudden Out Of The Ruines Of That Heathen Power.
Men
Empires
Dominion
The First And Fundamental Law Of Nature, Which Is, To Seek Peace And Follow It.
Law
Fundamentals
Firsts
They That Approve A Private Opinion, Call It Opinion; But They That Dislike It, Heresy; And Yet Heresy Signifies No More Than Private Opinion.
Leviathan
Opinion
Orthodox
And Where Men Build On False Grounds, The More They Build, The Greater Is The Ruine
Men
Greater
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.
Ignorance
Passion
Men
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?
War
Men
Keys
Because Silver And Gold Have Their Value From The Matter Itself, They Have First This Privilege, That The Value Of Them Cannot Be Altered By The Power Of One, Nor Of A Few Commonwealths, As Being A Common Measure Of The Commodities Of All Places. But Base Money May Easily Be Enhanced Or Abased.
Gold
May
Matter
The Enemy Has Been Here In The Night Of Our Natural Ignorance, And Sown The Tares Of Spiritual Errors.
Spiritual
Ignorance
Night
For If All Things Were Equally In All Men, Nothing Would Be Prized.
Equality
Men
Would Be
Ignorance Of The Law Is No Good Excuse, Where Every Man Is Bound To Take Notice Of The Laws To Which He Is Subject.
Ignorance
Men
Law
Nature Hath Made Men So Equal In The Faculties Of Body And Mind, As That Though There Be Found One Man Sometimes Manifestly Stronger In Body, Or Of Quicker Mind Than Another, Yet When All Is Reckoned Together, The Difference Between Man And Man Is Not So Considerable As That One Man Can Thereupon Claim To Himself Any Benefit To Which Another May Not Pretend As Well As He.
Men
Differences
Mind
Science [is] Knowledge Of The Truth Of Propositions And How Things Are Called.
Propositions
I Shall Be Glad Then To Find A Hole To Creep Out Of The World.
Atheism
World
Holes
For It Is With The Mysteries Of Our Religion, As With Wholesome Pills For The Sick, Which Swallowed Whole, Have The Virtue To Cure; But Chewed, Are For The Most Part Cast Up Again Without Effect.
Sick
Religion
Pills
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.
Mean
Men
Law
From The Same It Proceedeth,that Men Gives Different Names, To One And The Same Thing, From The Difference Of Their Own Passions: As They That Approve A Private Opinion, Call It Opinion; But They That Mislike It, Haeresie: And Yet Haeresie Signifies No More Than Private Opinion; But Has Only Agreater Tincture Of Choler
Passion
Men
Names
Fear Of Things Invisible Is The Natural Seed Of That Which Everyone In Himself Calleth Religion.
Fear
Religion
Leviathan
Words Are The Counters Of Wise Men, But The Money Of Fools.
Wise
Men
Fool
So Easy Are Men To Be Drawn To Believe Any Thing, From Such Men As Have Gotten Credit With Them; And Can With Gentleness And Dexterity Take Hold Of Their Fear And Ignorance.
Believe
Ignorance
Men
Science Is The Knowledge Of Consequences, And Dependence Of One Fact Upon Another.
Science
Reality
Facts
Covenants Without Swords Are But Words.
Covenant
Weapons
No Mans Error Becomes His Own Law; Nor Obliges Him To Persist In It.
Mistake
Errors
Law
Can It Then Be Doubted, But That God, Who Is Infinitely Fine Spirit, And Withal Intelligent, Can Make And Change All Species And Kind Of Body As He Pleaseth? But I Dare Not Say, That This Is The Way By Which God Almighty Worketh, Because It Is Past My Apprehension: Yet It Serves Very Well To Demonstrate, That The Omnipotence Of God Implieth No Contradiction.
God
Intelligent
Past
The Power Of A Man Is His Present Means To Obtain Some Future Apparent Good.
Mean
Men
Goodness
The Object Of Man's Desire Is Not To Enjoy Once Only, And For One Instant Of Time; But To Assure For Ever, The Way Of His Future Desires.
Men
Desire
Way
As A Draft-animal Is Yoked In A Wagon, Even So The Spirit Is Yoked In This Body
Animal
Body
Wagons
For War, Consisteth Not In Battle Only, Or The Act Of Fighting; But In A Tract Of Time, Wherein The Will To Content By Battle Is Sufficiently Known.... So The Nature Of War, Consisteth Not In Actual Fighting; But In The Known Disposition Thereto, During All The Time There Is No Assurance To The Contrary. All Other Time Is Peace.
War
Fighting
Battle
All Men, Among Themselves, Are By Nature Equal. The Inequality We Now Discern Hath Its Spring From The Civil Law.
Spring
Men
Law
From What Cause The Rite Of Baptism First Proceeded Is Not Expressed Formally In The Scripture, But It May Be Probably Thought To Be An Imitation Of The Law Of Moses Concerning Leprosy, Wherein The Leprous Man Was Commanded To Be Kept Out Of The Camp Of Israel For A Certain Time, After Which Time Being Judged By The Priest To Be Clean, He Was Admitted Into The Camp After A Solemn Washing. And This May Therefore Be A Type Of The Washing In Baptism, Wherein Such Men As Are Cleansed Of The Leprosy Of Sin By Faith, Are Received Into The Church With The Solemnity Of Baptism.
Men
Israel
Law
And As In Other Things, So In Men, Not The Seller, But The Buyer Determines The Price.
Men
Buyers
Determine
Faith Is A Gift Of God, Which Man Can Neither Give Nor Take Away By Promise Of Rewards Or Menace Of Torture.
Faith
Men
Giving
I Think, Therefore Matter Is Capable Of Thinking.
Thinking
Matter
Capable
Life Is Nasty, Brutish, And Short
Nasty
Life Is
It Is Not Easy To Fall Into Any Absurdity, Unless It Be By The Length Of An Account; Wherein He May Perhaps Forget What Went Before. For All Men By Nature Reason Alike, And Well, When They Have Good Principles.
Fall
Men
Principles
The Passions Of Men Are Commonly More Potent Than Their Reason.
Passion
Men
Reason
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.
Science
Men
Definitions
By How Much One Man Has More Experience Of Things Past, Than Another, By So Much Also He Is More Prudent, And His Expectations The Seldomer Fail Him.
Past
Men
Expectations
For Such Is The Nature Of Men, That Howsoever They May Acknowledge Many Others To Be More Witty, Or More Eloquent, Or More Learned, Yet They Will Hardly Believe There Be Many So Wise As Themselves, For They See Their Own Wit At Hand, And Other Men's At A Distance. But This Proveth Rather That Men Are In That Point Equal, Than Unequal. For There Is Not Ordinarily A Greater Sign Of The Equal Distribution Of Any Thing Than That Every Man Is Contented With His Share.
Wise
Wisdom
Witty
It Is Not Wisdom But Authority That Makes A Law
Law
Justice
Authority
The Law Is The Public Conscience.
Law
Conscience
For All Laws Are General Judgements, Or Sentences Of The Legislator; As Also Every Particular Judgement Is A Law To Him Whose Case Is Judged.
Law
Judgement
Cases
The World Is Governed By Opinion.
Politics
World
Opinion
Heresy Is A Word Which, When It Is Used Without Passion, Signifies A Private Opinion. So The Different Sects Of The Old Philosophers, Academians, Peripatetics, Epicureans, Stoics, &c., Were Called Heresies.
Passion
Atheism
Different
Prudence Is But Experience, Which Equal Time Equally Bestows On All Men In Those Things They Equally Apply Themselves Unto.
Men
Equal
Caution
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.
Men
Rate
True Value
Government Is Necessary, Not Because Man Is Naturally Bad... But Because Man Is By Nature More Individualistic Than Social.
Men
Government
Social
The Condition Of Man... Is A Condition Of War Of Everyone Against Everyone.
War
Men
Survival
Leisure Is The Mother Of Philosophy; And Commonwealth, The Mother Of Peace And Leisure.
Mother
Philosophy
Leisure
When A Man Tells Me God Hath Spoken In A Dream, I Know He Dreamt That God Spoke To Him.
Dream
Men
Spokes
No Man Can Be Judge To His Own Cause.
Men
Judging
Causes
Leisure Can Be One Of The Mothers Of Philosophy.
Mother
Philosophy
Leisure
Life In The State Of Nature Is Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish, And Short.
Society
Liberty
Nasty
Because Waking I Often Observe The Absurdity Of Dreams, But Never Dream Of The Absurdities Of My Waking Thoughts, I Am Well Satisfied That Being Awake, I Know I Dream Not; Though When I Dream, I Think Myself Awake.
Dream
Thinking
Waking
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.
Perseverance
Passion
Animal
It Is Many Times With A Fraudulent Design That Men Stick Their Corrupt Doctrine With The Cloves Of Other Mens Wit.
Men
Design
Doctrine
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.
Dream
Taken
Simple
Men Measure Not Only Other Men, But All Other Things, By Themselves.
Men
Obligation Is Thraldom, And Thraldom Is Hateful.
Hateful
Obligation
Thoughts Are To The Desires As Scouts And Spies, To Range Abroad, And Find The Way To The Things Desired.
Spy
Desire
Way
Appetite, With An Opinion Of Attaining, Is Called Hope; The Same, Without Such Opinion, Despair.
Inspirational
Despair
Opinion
Man Is Distinguished Not Only By His Reason, But Also By This Singular Passion, From All Other Animals.
Passion
Men
Animal
Prudence Is A Presumption Of The Future, Contracted From The Experience Of Time Past.
Past
Times Past
Prudence
In A Democracy, Look How Many Demagogs That Is How Many Powerful Orators There Are With The People.
Powerful
People
Democracy
I Know Not How The World Will Receive It, Nor How It May Reflect On Those That Shall Seem To Favor It. For In A Way Beset With Those That Contend, On One Side For Too Great Liberty , And On The Other Side For Too Much Authority , 'tis Hard To Passe Between The Points Of Both Unwounded.
Liberty
May
Too Much
Seeing Then That Truth Consisteth In The Right Ordering Of Names In Our Affirmations, A Man That Seeketh Precise Truth, Had Need To Remember What Every Name He Uses Stands For; And To Place It Accordingly; Or Else He Will Find Himself Entangled In Words, As A Bird In Lime-twigs; The More He Struggles, The More Belimed.
Truth
Struggle
Men
Whatsoever Therefore Is Consequent To A Time Of War, Where Every Man Is Enemy To Every Man, The Same Consequent To The Time Wherein Men Live Without Other Security Than What Their Own Strength And Their Own Invention Shall Furnish Them Withal. In Such Condition There Is No Place For Industry... No Knowledge Of The Face Of The Earth; No Account Of Time; No Arts; No Letters; No Society; And Which Is Worst Of All, Continual Fear, And Danger Of Violent Death; And The Life Of Man, Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish, And Short.
Art
War
Men
He That Is Taken And Put Into Prison Or Chains Is Not Conquered, Though Overcome; For He Is Still An Enemy.
Philosophical
Taken
Jail
... It Is One Thing To Desire, Another To Be In Capacity Fit For What We Desire.
Desire
Fit
Capacity
If I Had Read As Much As Other Men I Would Have Known No More Than They.
Men
Library
Known
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.
Eye
Imagination
Obscure
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.
Heart
Order
Two
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 Searcheth Hearts.
Lying
Heart
Character
And This Feare Of Things Invisible, Is The Naturall Seed Of That, Which Every One In Himself Calleth Religion; And In Them That Worship, Or Feare That Power Otherwise Than They Do, Superstition.
Superstitions
Worship
Invisible
The First Author Of Speech Was God Himself, That Instructed Adam How To Name Such Creatures As He Presented To His Sight.
Sight
Names
Speech
Christian Kings May Erre In Deducing A Consequence, But Who Shall Judge?
Christian
Kings
Judging
Curiosity Is The Lust Of The Mind.
Life Lesson
Philosophical
Lust
Such Truth, As Opposeth No Man's Profit, Nor Pleasure, Is To All Men Welcome.
Philosophical
Men
Welcome
How Could A State Be Governed, Or Protected In Its Foreign Relations If Every Individual Remained Free To Obey Or Not To Obey The Law According To His Private Opinion.
Law
Opinion
Individual
Men Looke Not At The Greatnesse Of The Evill Past, But The Greatnesse Of The Good To Follow.
Past
Men
No Arts, No Letters - No Society.
Art
Letters
Wisdom, Properly So Called, Is Nothing Else But This: The Perfect Knowledge Of The Truth In All Matters Whatsoever.
Wisdom
Perfect
Matter
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 From Death.
Men
Covenant
Void
The Praise Of Ancient Authors Proceeds Not From The Reverence Of The Dead, But From The Competition And Mutual Envy Of The Living.
Envy
Competition
Ancient
They That Are Discontented Under Monarchy, Call It Tyranny; And They That Are Displeased With Aristocracy, Call It Oligarchy: So Also, They Which Find Themselves Grieved Under A Democracy, Call It Anarchy, Which Signifies The Want Of Government; And Yet I Think No Man Believes, That Want Of Government, Is Any New Kind Of Government.
Believe
Men
Thinking
If I Read As Many Books As Most Men Do, I Would Be As Dull-witted As They Are.
Witty
Book
Men
And Beasts That Have Deliberation , Must Necessarily Also Have Will .
Beast
Deliberation
To Understand This For Sense It Is Not Required That A Man Should Be A Geometrician Or A Logician, But That He Should Be Mad.
Math
Men
Mad
The Obligation Of Subjects To The Sovereign Is Understood To Last As Long, And No Longer, Than The Power Lasteth By Which He Is Able To Protect Them.
Power
Long
Leviathan
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.
Faith
Believe
Writing
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.
Ignorance
Passion
Errors
Time, And Industry, Produce Everyday New Knowledge.
Everyday
Produce
Industry
The Original Of All Great And Lasting Societies Consisted Not In The Mutual Good Will Men Had Toward Each Other, But In The Mutual Fear They Had Of Each Other.
Fear
Men
Lasting
From Whence It Follows, That Were The Publique And Private Interest Are Most Closely United, There Is The Publique Most Advanced.
Interest
United
Hell Is Truth Seen Too Late.
Truth
Philosophy
Too Late
For There Are Very Few So Foolish Who Would Not Rather Govern Themselves Than Be Governed By Others.
Liberty
Foolish
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.
Giving
Appetite
Contractor
A Wise Man Should So Write (though In Words Understood By All Men) That Wise Men Only Should Be Able To Commend Him.
Wise
Wisdom
Writing
Ambition, And Covetousnesse Are Passions That Are Perpetually Incumbent, And Pressing.
Passion
Ambition
Political
Corporations Are May Lesser Commonwealths In The Bowels Of A Greater, Like Worms In The Entrails Of A Natural Man.
Men
Political
May
When Two, Or More Men, Know Of One And The Same Fact, They Are Said To Be Conscious Of It One To Another; Which Is As Much As To Know It Together.
Men
Two
Together
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.
Children
Men
Reflection
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.
Kings
Pain
Government
The Papacy Is Not Other Than The Ghost Of The Deceased Roman Empire, Sitting Crowned Upon The Grave Thereof.
Sitting
Leviathan
Empires
Passions Unguided Are For The Most Part Mere Madness.
Passion
Madness
Mere
For As To The Strength Of Body, The Weakest Has Strength Enough To Kill The Strongest, Either By Secret Machination Or By Confederacy With Others That Are In The Same Danger With Himself
Secret
Body
Enough
The Reputation Of Power Is Power.
Power
Political
Reputation
Fear Of Power Invisible, Feigned By The Mind Or Imagined From Tales Publicly Allowed, Is Religion; Not Allowed, Superstition.
Mind
Atheism
Superstitions
A Covenant Not To Defend My Selfe From Force, By Force, Is Always Voyd.
Covenant
Force
For To Accuse Requires Less Eloquence, Such Is Man's Nature, Than To Excuse; And Condemnation, Than Absolution, More Resembles Justice.
Men
Justice
Excuse
But Yet They That Have No Science , Are In Better, And Nobler Condition With Their Naturall Prudence; Than Men, That By Their Mis-reasoning, Or By Trusting Them That Reason Wrong, Fall Upon False And Absurd Generall Rules.
Fall
Men
Reason
A Man Cannot Lay Down The Right Of Resisting Them That Assault Him By Force, To Take Away His Life.
Life
Philosophical
Men
No Man Is Bound By The Words Themselves, Either To Kill Himselfe, Or Any Other Man.
Men
Bounds
Fact Be Vertuous, Or Vicious, As Fortune Pleaseth
Facts
Vicious
Fortune
Force And Fraud Are In War The Two Cardinal Virtues.
War
Two
Hype
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.
Work
Men
Would Be
The End Of Knowledge Is Power ... The Scope Of All Speculation Is The Performing Of Some Action Or Thing To Be Done.
Knowledge
Science
Power
The Best Men Are The Least Suspicious Of Fraudulent Purposes.
Men
Atheism
Purpose
Love Is A Person's Idea About His/her Needs In Other Person What You Are Attracted To.
Love Is
Ideas
Needs
The Oath Adds Nothing To The Obligation. For A Covenant, If Lawful, Binds In The Sight Of God, Without The Oath, As Much As With It; If Unlawful, Bindeth Not At All, Though It Be Confirmed With An Oath.
Sight
Add
Covenant
So That Every Crime Is A Sinne; But Not Every Sinne A Crime.
Crime
To Say God Spake Or Appeared As He Is In His Own Nature, Is To Deny His Infiniteness, Invisibility, Incomprehensibility.
God
Invisibility
Deny
A Democracy Is No More Than An Aristocracy Of Orators. The People Are So Readily Moved By Demagogues That Control Must Be Exercised By The Government Over Speech And Press.
Government
People
Democracy
True And False Are Attributes Of Speech, Not Of Things. And Where Speech Is Not, There Is Neither Truth Nor Falsehood.
Truth
True And False
Speech
To This War Of Every Man Against Every Man, This Also In Consequent; That Nothing Can Be Unjust. The Notions Of Right And Wrong, Justice And Injustice Have There No Place. Where There Is No Common Power, There Is No Law, Where No Law, No Injustice. Force, And Fraud, Are In War The Cardinal Virtues.
War
Men
Law
Of All Discourse , Governed By Desire Of Knowledge, There Is At Last An End , Either By Attaining, Or By Giving Over.
Giving
Desire
Lasts
The Law Is More Easily Understood By Few Than Many Words. For All Words Are Subject To Ambiguity, And Therefore Multiplication Of Words In The Body Of The Law Is Multiplication Of Ambiguity. Besides, It Seems To Imply (by Too Much Diligence) That Whosoever Can Evade The Words Is Without The Compass Of The Law.
Law
Body
Too Much
And As To The Faculties Of The Mind, Setting Aside The Arts Grounded Upon Words, And Especially That Skill Of Proceeding Upon Generall, And Infallible Rules, Called Science; Which Very Few Have, And But In Few Things; As Being Not A Native Faculty, Born Within Us; Nor Attained, (as Prudence,) While We Look After Somewhat Else.
Art
Science
Skills
To Say That God Is An Incorporeal Substance, Is To Say In Effect There Is No God At All. What Alleges He Against It, But The School-divinity Which I Have Already Answered? Scripture He Can Bring None, Because The Word Incorporeal Is Not Found In Scripture.
Bible
God
School
If Any Two Men Desire The Same Thing, Which Nevertheless They Cannot Both Enjoy, They Become Enemies.
Men
Two
Enemy
Curiosity Draws A Man From Consideration Of The Effect, To Seek The Cause.
Men
Curiosity
Atheism
The Interpretation Of The Laws Of Nature In A Common-wealth, Dependeth Not On The Books Of Moral Philosophy. The Authority Of Writers, Without The Authority Of The Commonwealth, Maketh Not Their Opinions Law, Be They Never So True.
Philosophy
Book
Law
There Is No Such Thing As Perpetual Tranquility Of Mind While We Live Here.
Mind
Tranquility
Perpetual
This Is That Law Of The Gospel; Whatsoever You Require That Others Should Do To You, That Do Ye To Them.
Law
Should
The Secret Thoughts Of A Man Run Over All Things, Holy, Profane, Clean, Obscene, Grave, And Light, Without Shame Or Blame.
Running
Men
Ideas
Another Doctrine Repugnant To Civill Society, Is That Whatsoever A Man Does Against His Conscience, Is Sinne ; And It Dependeth On The Presumption Of Making Himself Judge Of Good And Evill. For A Man's Conscience And His Judgement Are The Same Thing, And As The Judgement, So Also The Conscience May Be Erroneous.
Men
Judging
Leviathan
When The Nature Of The Thing Is Incomprehensible, I Can Acquiesce In The Scripture: But When The Signification Of Words Is Incomprehensible, I Cannot Acquiesce In The Authority Of A Schoolman.
Bible
God
Scripture
This I Know; God Cannot Sin, Because His Doing A Thing Makes It Just, And Consequently, No Sin.... And Therefore It Is Blasphemy To Say, God Can Sin; But To Say, That God Can So Order The World, As A Sin May Be Necessarily Caused Thereby In A Man, I Do Not See How It Is Any Dishonor To Him.
God
Men
Order
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