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Thomas Hobbes

English philosopher (1588–1679)

  • Fame78.0
  • Momentum0.0
  • United Kingdom rank#187
Source-basedStable
  • Fame78.0
  • Momentum0.0
  • United Kingdom rank#187
  • Academics rank#62
  • Wikipedia64.7K
Lived 1588–1679, aged 91United Kingdom
United Kingdom flagUnited KingdomAcademicsAcademic
  • Wikipedia
    110 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Rank in United Kingdom
    #187
    Academics
  • Era
    1588–1679
    Aged 91
Summary
Updated 2026-06-08

The man who looked at civil war tearing England apart and concluded that only absolute power could stop humans from killing each other. His 1651 Leviathan laid out the deal: we trade freedom for order, because left to ourselves we'd be locked in a war of all against all.

Biography

About

Born in 1588, Hobbes grew up after his father fled a brawl, raised instead by a wealthy uncle who sent him through Westport schools to Oxford and then Cambridge, where he graduated in 1608. He became tutor to the Cavendish family, a post that opened doors across Europe — he met Galileo, moved through intellectual salons, absorbed the new science. Returning to England in 1637, he watched the country slide into civil war, Parliamentarians against Royalists, nine years of slaughter that convinced him chaos was humanity's default setting. Leviathan emerged in 1651 as his answer: the social contrac…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes
said
I know not how the world will receive it, nor how it may reflect on those that shall seem to favor it.
— The Epistle Dedicatory, Paris, April 15-25, 1651
Thomas Hobbes
said
For he that hath strength enough to protect all, wants not sufficiency to oppresse all.
— De Cive (1642), "Of the right of him, whether Counsell, or one Man onely, who hath the supreme power in the City", Ch. 6
Thomas Hobbes
saidundated
Give an inch, he'll take an ell.
— Liberty and Necessity (no. 111)
Thomas Hobbes
saidundated
Art goes... imitating that Rationall and most excellent worke of Nature, Man.
— The Introduction
Thomas Hobbes
saidundated
Understanding being nothing else, but conception caused by Speech.
— The First Part, Chapter 4, p. 17
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
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By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
78.0
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Historical26.3
Now attention14.5
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
Global rank
—
Country rank
#187
Category rank
#62
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence