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Thomas Hobbes 1588 - 1679 |
Political philosopher, first English translator of Thucycdides' History of the Peloponnesian War, author of Leviathan |
| Such truth as opposes no man's profit, nor pleasure, is to all men welcome. from Leviathan |
| 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. |
| A democracy is no more than an aristocracy of orators. |
| 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? |
| There is no such thing as perpetual tranquility 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. from Leviathan |
| They that approve a private opinion, call it opinion; but they that mislike it, heresy: and yet heresy signifies no more than private opinion. from Leviathan |