Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil Quotes

Context

This line was written by Thomas Hobbes in a book laying out his philosophical views, Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil (1651).

You think you've got it bad? Well… Thomas Hobbes would agree with you. In his book, Leviathan, Hobbes wants to talk about human politics and how they should work. But he wants to base his philosophy on a strong understanding of what humans actually want, so he titles Part I of his book "Of Man" and tries to give us a good understanding of human nature.

As you can probably see from the quote, Hobbes doesn't have an especially optimistic view of it. In his mind, human life is very isolated and very harsh, which means we need to build a political system that understands this brute fact and doesn't pretend that life is all sunshine and lollipops.

Where you've heard it

There aren't really any famous scenes in movies or novels where someone pulls out this quote, but you're bound to hear it from any undergrad philosophy major who has a "life sucks" kind of attitude. This website, for example, lists the quote as one of the top "LifeSucks" quotes ever written. So don't expect to see it on any motivational posters.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Unsurprisingly, quotes from 17th-century philosophical texts have a high Pretentious Factor. Especially when, like this one, it's basically a really gussied-up way of saying that life sucks.