A man's conscience and his judgment is the same thing; and as the judgment, so also the conscience, may be erroneous.
Interpretation
Conscience and judgment are intertwined, and both can be flawed.
In this quote, Thomas Hobbes emphasizes the deep connection between a person's conscience and their judgment, suggesting that they are ultimately the same in function. He warns that both can be misguided or mistaken, leading to erroneous decisions and moral failures; thus, it is crucial to critically evaluate one's own beliefs and judgments to ensure they align with reason and truth.
In practice
In a philosophy class discussing moral relativism.
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.
People quickly grow accustomed to being the slaves of mystery.
Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad.
The measure of a man is what he does with power.
The sinner is not the one who uses a lot of grace... The saint burns grace like a 747 burns fuel on take off.
Without thinking or reflecting, we plunge into war, contract heavy debts, increase vastly the patronage of the Executive, and indulge in every species of extravagance, without thinking that we expose our liberty to hazard. It is a great and fatal mistake.
Life is a spark between two identical voids, the darkness before birth and the one after death.
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