Q0245

Thomas Hobbes

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

Felicity is a continual progress of the desire, from one object to another.
Thinker Thomas Hobbes
School Modern Political Philosophy
Source Leviathan VI
Theme Desire
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Leviathan VI, within the tradition of Modern Political Philosophy. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of desire, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Thomas Hobbes's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Thomas Hobbes. (n.d.). Felicity is a continual progress of the desire, from one object to another. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0245

MLA: Thomas Hobbes. “Felicity is a continual progress of the desire,….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0245.

Chicago: Thomas Hobbes. “Felicity is a continual progress of the desire,….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0245.

Same thinker

More from Thomas Hobbes

  1. [In the state of nature, the life of man is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
  2. During the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called War.
  3. the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short

All quotations by Thomas Hobbes

Same theme

More on desire

  1. It is not things that disturb people, but their judgments about things.
  2. Do not seek for things to happen as you wish, but wish for things to happen as they do, and you will flow well.
  3. Nature's wealth has its bounds and is easy to procure; but the wealth of vain fancies recedes to an infinite distance.
  4. Wealth does not take away need — it kindles new wants.
  5. Heaven moves with vigor; the gentleman accordingly strengthens himself without cease.

Browse the desire theme