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John Locke vs Thomas Hobbes on Politics

Hobbes and Locke offer the two foundational early-modern accounts of political authority, and their disagreement is anchored in radically different pictures of the state of nature. Hobbes's natural condition is a war of all against all; the rational solution is the surrender of nearly all rights to an absolute sovereign in exchange for security. Locke's natural condition is a state of equality and freedom under the natural law, with property and rights existing prior to government; the rational solution is a limited government whose authority can be revoked when it violates its trust. Where Hobbes legitimates the absolute sovereign, Locke legitimates the right of resistance.

About this topic

Political philosophy investigates the basis and limits of political authority, the principles of just institutions, and the duties citizens owe one another. From Plato and Aristotle through Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Marx to twentieth-century theorists of liberalism, democracy, and critique, philosophers have asked how power should be organized and to what ends. The quotes below illustrate these long-running questions about freedom, equality, the state, and the common good.

For a side-by-side overview of the two philosophers more broadly, see the full John Locke vs Thomas Hobbes comparison. To browse philosophy more widely on this theme, see the Politics quotes hub.

Representative quotes on politics

John Locke on politics

  • “Where there is no law, there is no freedom.”

    Second Treatise of Government , Ch. VI, sec. 57

  • “Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.”

    Second Treatise of Government , Ch. VII. sec. 94

Thomas Hobbes on politics

  • “The war of all against all.”

    The First Part, Chapter 13, p. 62

  • “Covenants without the sword are but words, and of no strength to secure a man at all.”

    The Second Part, Chapter 17, p. 85

  • “The condition of man is a condition of war of every one against every one.”

    The First Part, Chapter 14, p. 64

  • “He that is to govern a whole nation must read in himself, not this or that particular man, but mankind.”

    The Introduction, p. 2

  • “Such truth as opposes no man's profit, nor pleasure, is to all men welcome.”

    Review and Conclusion, p. 396, (Last text line)

All 8 Thomas Hobbes quotes on politics →

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