For it is not the shape, but their use, that makes them angels.
Interpretation
The value of things lies in how we use them rather than their form.
Thomas Hobbes suggests that the essence of objects, ideas, or even people is determined not by their physical appearance but by their functionality and the purpose they serve. This perspective encourages us to look beyond superficial qualities and appreciate the deeper value and impact of our choices and actions.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of diversity, this quote can remind us to appreciate individuals for their contributions rather than their appearances.
Baptism is the sacrament of allegiance of them that are to be received into the Kingdom of God, that is to say, into Eternal life, that is to say, to Remission of Sin. For as Eternal life was lost by the committing, so it is recovered by the remitting of men's sins.
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man's nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.
Scientia potentia est, sed parva; quia scientia egregia rara est, nec proinde apparens nisi paucissimis, et in paucis rebus. Scientiae enim ea natura est, ut esse intelligi non possit, nisi ab illis qui sunt scientia praediti.
The end of knowledge is power ... the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action or thing to be done.
They that approve a private opinion, call it opinion; but they that dislike it, heresy; and yet heresy signifies no more than private opinion.
Religious leaders will always avail themselves of public ignorance for their own purpose.
It is nothing but fanaticism and beautiful soulism to expect very much (or even, much only) from humanity when it has forgotten how to wage war.
A person who is knowingly bent on bad behavior, gets upset when better behavior is expected of them.
We call the one side [of humanity] religion, and we call the other science. Religion is always right. ... Science is always wrong; it is the very artifice of men. Science can never solve one problem without raising ten more problems.
I felt like I was some kind of primitive spring-loaded machine, placed under far more tension than it had ever been built to sustain, about to blast apart at great danger to anyone standing nearby. I imagined my body parts flying off my torso in order to escape the volcanic core of unhappiness that had become: me.
Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable.
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