For there are very few so foolish who would not rather govern themselves than be governed by others.
Interpretation
People generally prefer to have control over their own lives rather than being controlled by others.
In this quote, Thomas Hobbes emphasizes the innate human desire for autonomy and self-governance. He suggests that wisdom lies in recognizing the value of personal agency, asserting that most individuals would choose the responsibility of governing themselves over the limitations imposed by outside forces.
In practice
In a discussion about democracy, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of self-governance.
Baptism is the sacrament of allegiance of them that are to be received into the Kingdom of God, that is to say, into Eternal life, that is to say, to Remission of Sin. For as Eternal life was lost by the committing, so it is recovered by the remitting of men's sins.
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
For it is not the shape, but their use, that makes them angels.
For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man's nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.
Scientia potentia est, sed parva; quia scientia egregia rara est, nec proinde apparens nisi paucissimis, et in paucis rebus. Scientiae enim ea natura est, ut esse intelligi non possit, nisi ab illis qui sunt scientia praediti.
The end of knowledge is power ... the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action or thing to be done.
Whether you think of it as heavenly or as earthly, if you love life immortality is no consolation for death.
Sentimentality, the ostentatious parading of excessive and spurious emotion, is the mark of dishonesty...the wet eyes of the sentimentalist betray his aversion to experience, his fear of life, his arid heart; and it is always, therefore, the signal of secret and violent humanity, the mark of cruelty.
On their sofas of spice and feathers, the concubines also slept fretfully. In those days the Earth was still flat, and people dreamed often of falling over edges.
There have been innumerable Temporary Seekers after the Truth-have you ever heard of a permanent one?
Life is a near-death experience.
The man whom God wills to slay in the struggle of life - he first individualizes.
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