Spots 
Every human thought originates from the pressure of external objects pressing upon physical organs. Light strikes the eye and motion presses the brain, producing mental appearances without any mystical essence. All internal awareness stems directly from this mechanical interaction with the physical world.
Imagination is simply decaying sense, like ripples lingering on water long after a stone has sunk. When original physical sensations fade, lingering motions in the mind form memories and dreams. Complex fantasies arise merely from compounding these decaying impressions over time.
Thoughts do not wander randomly; one thought summons another through established paths of past experience. Unguided thoughts drift by association, while regulated thoughts seek the causes of desired effects. Control over this mental sequence allows foresight and purposeful action.
Words transform fleeting thoughts into permanent names and registers of memory. Language enables general reasoning and communication, but errors in definition lead directly to absurd conclusions. Truth consists in the correct ordering of names, while falsehood arises from verbal confusion.
Reason operates like arithmetic, adding and subtracting the consequences of general names to form conclusions. Science is the attainment of exact knowledge gained through step-by-step logical deduction rather than accumulated experience. Errors occur when definitions are accepted without rigorous verification.
Human action springs from internal motions called endeavors, directed either toward a desired object as appetite or away from it as aversion. Delight, fear, hope, and pride are merely names for specific configurations of these fundamental drives. Deliberation ends the moment appetite or fear triggers an actual decision.
Every chain of reasoning ends either in knowledge or in mere opinion and belief. Opinion becomes faith when based on trust in the speaker rather than direct demonstration of the facts. Final certainty remains impossible without logical proof rooted in sensory evidence.
Intellectual capability rests on quickness of thought and the ability to discern subtle distinctions between ideas. Good judgment identifies differences, while wit finds unexpected resemblances. Madness occurs when passions like pride or rage distort the natural sequence of thoughts.
Knowledge divides cleanly into two branches: facts established by memory or witness, and consequences derived from logical demonstration. History records facts of nature and human deeds, while philosophy demonstrates conditional truths about causes and effects.
Power consists of present means to obtain some future apparent good. Worth is the value placed on a person's power by others, fluctuating according to need and utility. True honour is the public acknowledgment of superior power or capability.
Human life features a perpetual and restless desire for power after power that ceases only in death. Peaceable inclinations push individuals toward obedience under a common authority to secure safety and leisure. Anxiety about future well-being drives people toward superstition or rational inquiry.
Religion originates in the natural human urge to seek causes for events combined with anxiety about the future. Ignorance of natural causes creates belief in invisible powers, which founders leverage to enforce social discipline. Civil order depends on keeping religious authority subordinate to secular rule.
Nature makes human beings roughly equal in body and mind, giving everyone equal hope of attaining their ends. Without a common power to keep all in awe, men exist in a state of war where life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Fear of death and desire for comfortable living incline men toward peace.
The fundamental right of nature gives every person liberty to preserve life by any means necessary. The first law of nature commands seeking peace, while the second requires surrendering rights over others if others do the same. Covenants formed without enforcement power are mere words unable to bind self-interest.
Justice consists in performing covenants made, which becomes possible only under a civil power capable of punishing default. Remaining laws of nature mandate gratitude, equity, mercy, and forgiveness to maintain civil peace. These moral principles are eternal laws of reason aimed at self-preservation.
A person is an entity whose words or actions are considered as their own or as representing another. An actor speaks for an author who owns the authority for the speech. A unified political body exists only when represented by a single person whose actions bind the whole group.
People abandon the misery of natural war by conferring all power and strength upon one man or assembly. This covenant forms a unified Commonwealth, creating that great Leviathan to which peace and defense are owed. The sovereign holds supreme authority to maintain order and repel external threats.
Subjects cannot alter the form of government or accuse the sovereign of injury, because every subject authorized the sovereign's acts. The ruler retains ultimate judgment over doctrine, laws, war, peace, and judicial disputes. Dividing or limiting sovereign power destroys the stability of the state.
Sovereign power takes three forms depending on who holds rule: monarchy, democracy, or aristocracy. Monarchy provides the greatest stability because private interest coincides directly with public interest in a single ruler. Elective or limited rulers are not true sovereigns but mere ministers of the sovereign power.
Dominion over people is acquired either by generation as paternal authority or by conquest as despotical rule. In both cases, obligation arises from consent given out of fear rather than love. Sovereign rights remain identical whether established by voluntary institution or forced submission.
Liberty consists in the absence of physical hindrances to action, not in exemption from laws. Subjects retain complete liberty to act where sovereign laws are silent and possess an absolute right to defend their own physical lives. True freedom lives alongside total political subjection.
Subordinate associations within a state exist only by permission of the central sovereign power. Corporations, commercial bodies, and family structures lose legitimacy whenever their activities conflict with sovereign safety. No sub-group can possess independent authority or immunity from public law.
Public ministers act as officers authorized by the sovereign to execute specific public duties. Administrators, judges, ambassadors, and military commanders function as organs of the political body. Their authority derives entirely from sovereign delegation, never from personal right.
The sustenance of a state depends on the distribution of land and goods, regulated entirely by sovereign laws. Property rights exist solely through civil law, as natural condition admits no private ownership. Trade and currency act as blood distributing nourishment throughout the commonwealth.
An absolute sovereign prevents civil breakdown by holding undivided authority over human self-interest.