Quotation
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“The life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Thomas Hobbes · Political philosophy · Early modern · 1651
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What does it mean?
Without a power able to overawe everyone, the usual reading says, there is no industry or security worth the name, and life has the character this list describes. The list is not his portrait of ordinary social life under a working commonwealth. A rival reading uses the adjectives as a general insult to human nature, as if people were devils rather than roughly equal and afraid of death. The sentence closes the famous description of the state of war in Leviathan, chapter 13, and the remedy he wants comes later.
Did Thomas Hobbes really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. Hobbes's own English in Leviathan, chapter 13. The full sentence describes life where there is no common power to keep people in awe. It is not his description of ordinary social life. The wording is secure.
Where it comes from
Leviathan, chapter 13
Approximate date: 1651.
How to use it
A thread about a broken stairwell light in a block in Peckham turns the phrase into a verdict on the neighbours, when Hobbes is describing what cooperation lacks if nobody can enforce a rule. The list is a claim about the condition, not a sneer to paste on a group chat. Ask what common power the stairwell actually has, and whether his sovereign is the only way to get the bulb replaced.
A mindset reading
Context is part of the sentence, and a true quotation used for a false job is still a misreading. The adjectives are doing political theory, not personality assessment. Dropping the state of nature and keeping the insult leaves a line he did write, aimed at a target he did not choose.
Understand the philosophy
Chapter 13 sets out the state of nature, and the key term is war, not a constant battle but a known disposition to fight when there is no power to keep people in awe. Later chapters argue for the commonwealth as an artificial person that can end that condition. Hobbes thinks people are vulnerable and rational enough to fear violent death, which is why they can make the covenant. The English of Leviathan is his own.
- society
- power
- death
FAQ
What does it mean?
Without a power able to overawe everyone, the usual reading says, there is no industry or security worth the name, and life has the character this list describes. The list is not his portrait of ordinary social life under a working commonwealth. A rival reading uses the adjectives as a general insult to human nature, as if people were devils rather than roughly equal and afraid of death. The sentence closes the famous description of the state of war in Leviathan, chapter 13, and the remedy he wants comes later.
Did Thomas Hobbes really say this?
Well attested. Hobbes's own English in Leviathan, chapter 13. The full sentence describes life where there is no common power to keep people in awe. It is not his description of ordinary social life. The wording is secure.
Which work is it in?
Leviathan, chapter 13 Approximate date: 1651.