“It is not wisdom but authority that makes a Law.”

Men are moved by appetites and aversions.

True’ and ‘false’ are attributes of speech, not of things. And where speech is not, there is neither ‘truth’ nor ‘falsehood.

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.

I often observe the absurdity of dreams, but never dream of the absurdity of my waking thoughts.

Leisure is the mother of Philosophy.

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?

In the very shadows of doubt a thread of reason (so to speak) begins, by whose guidance we shall escape to the clearest light.

The light of humane minds is perspicuous words, but by exact definitions first snuffed, and purged from ambiguity, reason is the pace.

The Power of a Man is his present means, to obtain some future apparent Good.

The condition of man . . . is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.

As a draft-animal is yoked in a wagon, even so the spirit is yoked in this body.

Fear of things invisible is the natural seed of that which every one in himself calleth religion.

Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.

Power simply is no more, but the excess of the power of one above that of another.

For it can never be that war shall preserve life, and peace destroy it.

A great leap in the dark.

You can never give complete authority and overall power to anyone until trust can be proven.

Remain humble. Don’t worry about who receives the credit. Never let power or authority go to your head.

Authority, power, and wealth do not change a man; they only reveal him

Religion, social status, and property are all sources of power and authority which one man has, to control the liberty of another.

I think I’m a natural-born leader. I know how to bow down to authority if it’s authority that I respect.

Surround yourself with great people; delegate authority; get out of the way.

Obama is a statist. He’s an authoritarian. He doesn’t want to govern; he wants to rule.

The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians.