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.

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.

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

Government is necessary, not because man is naturally bad... but because man is by nature more individualistic than social.

Hell is truth seen too late.

Humans are driven by a perpetual and restless desire of power.

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.

Life in the state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law

Curiosity is the lust of the mind.

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.

If you write in the Old World, and against it, your work must die, go missing, be veiled, before it can live the life for which it was destined in the New World.

Five of the most dangerous words I know: ‘What’s in it for me?

You can't be in politics unless you can walk in a room and know in a minute who's for you and who's against you.

Right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and standards that have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society.

Arty. To me the word's got as much venom associated with it as 'wacky'.

There are people who want to be everywhere at once, and they get nowhere

You'll go insane if you try to have a picture-book house.

You lose nothing through peace. You can lose everything through war.

Most people live for love and admiration. But it is by love and admiration that we should live.

Our conception of 1950s underwear is a lovely vintage aesthetic, but actually, wearing stockings with no elastic and a girdle was heavy duty.