Thomas More

English statesman, lawyer and philosopher (1478–1535)

  • Fame78.1
  • Momentum8.6
  • Politicians rank#167
Source-basedStable
  • Fame78.1
  • Momentum8.6
  • Politicians rank#167
  • Wikipedia216K
Lived 1478–1535, aged 57
PoliticiansPolitician
  • Wikipedia
    97 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1478–1535
    Aged 57
Summary
Updated 2026-08-31

He wrote the book that gave us "utopia" — then lost his head for refusing to bend when his king broke with Rome.

Biography

About

Thomas More was born 7 February 1478 in England and rose through law to become Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII in October 1529. He published Utopia in 1516, imagining an island republic that became a lasting thought experiment. A committed Catholic humanist, he directed polemics against Luther, Zwingli, and Tyndale during the Reformation's early battles. When Henry VIII split from Rome and demanded an oath recognizing him as supreme head of the Church of England, More refused — he would not accept the annulment of Catherine of Aragon or the break itself. Convicted of treason on what he called…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Thomas More

Thomas More
said
And when the devil hath seen that they have set so little by him, after certain essays, made in such times as he thought most fitting, he hath given that temptation quite over.
Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation (1535), Book Two, Section XVI
Thomas More
said
Now there was a young gentleman which had married a merchant's wife.
Works (c. 1530)
Thomas More
saidundated
Yea, marry, now it is somewhat, for now it is rhyme; before it was neither rhyme nor reason.
Advising an author to put his MS. into rhyme. Reported in Hoyt's (1922), p. 604
Thomas More
saidundated
For men use, if they have an evil turn, to write it in marble: and whoso doth us a good turn we write it in dust.
Richard III and His Miserable End (1543)
Thomas More
saidundated
The increasing influence of the Bible is marvelously great, penetrating everywhere.
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 34.
Where to find them

Platforms

By the numbers

Score breakdown

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

Fame
Stable
78.1
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum8.6
Historical31.8
Now attention16.1
Source confidence65.0
Completeness65.0
Global rank
Country rank
Category rank
#167
Receipts

Sources

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