Fact Check : Tymoff didn't say "It is not wisdom but authority that makes a law" - Talkshubh USA (2024)

I was doing research and I found something that literally confused me. I saw multiple website who have published articles titled “it is not wisdom but authority that makes a law. t – tymoff”. I tried to decode what it means and so I started talking to GPT about who actually is T Tymoff. And guess what I found? No one! There literally is no one named T Tymoff who quoted “it is not wisdom but authority that makes a law.”. It was actually quoted by great Thomas Hobbes, a well-known English philosopher.

Let us understand why they are writing these fake articles and what is the reason behind this.

Why are people writing fake article about some T Tymoff?

A major reason is to get web traffic. We did a research on Ahrefs and found that the keyword “it is not wisdom but authority that makes a law. t – tymoff” had about 60K searches per month. That is huge and we have no idea why! Check here-

This tells that a major reason why people are writing fake articles about this. They want traffic. But is that really right thing to do? I am not even kidding when I say that hundred of articles are easy to find on this title. Check here-

One article even said that this Tymoff guy is some great legal counselor! How bad can it get?

Who actually said the quote – it is not wisdom but authority that makes a law?

The actual person who said this was Thomas Hobbes, a well-known English philosopher. Let us learn who he was and what this quote means.

About Thomas Hobbes

1. Birth and Death: Born on April 5, 1588, and died on December 4, 1679.
2. Key Work: Known for his book “Leviathan” published in 1651.
3. Philosophical Focus: Focused on political philosophy, particularly the social contract theory.
4. State of Nature: Described the natural state of human beings as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
5. Social Contract: Advocated for a social contract where individuals consent to surrender some freedoms to a sovereign authority in exchange for security and order.
6. Political Authority: Believed in a strong, centralized authority to prevent societal chaos and maintain peace.
7. Materialism: Emphasized materialism, arguing that everything, including human thoughts and actions, could be explained in terms of physical processes.
8. Influence: Influenced later political thinkers, including John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
9. Legacy: Considered a foundational figure in Western political philosophy and modern political science.

What does his quote mean?

The quote “It is not wisdom but authority that makes a law” means that rules are made not because they are smart or good, but because the people in charge say so.

Other Quotes Claimed To Be By Tymoff But Are Not

Here is a table listing the actual authors of the quotes commonly misattributed to Tymoff:

20 more quotes like It is not wisdom but authority that makes a law

Here are twenty more quotes about wisdom, authority and law which are quoted by great people (and none by that T Tymoff, whoever that is!)-

1. “The more laws, the less justice.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
2. “Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.” – Jonathan Swift
3. “Where there is no law, there is no freedom.” – John Locke
4. “The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free.” – Henry David Thoreau
5. “Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.” – Anne Bradstreet
6. “He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.” – Michel de Montaigne
7. “No man is above the law, and no man is below it.” – Theodore Roosevelt
8. “The law is reason, free from passion.” – Aristotle
9. “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” – Albert Einstein
10. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwell
11. “It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.” – Henry David Thoreau
12. “To know the law is not merely to understand the words, but as well the force and power of them.” – Aristotle
13. “Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.” – Oliver Goldsmith
14. “Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.” – Plato
15. “Authority is not a truth. A truth is something that can be proven to be right, and authority is only as good as the ruler who has it.” – Terry Goodkind
16. “Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.” – Honore de Balzac
17. “The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” – Louis D. Brandeis
18. “Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character.” – Robert E. Lee
19. “Law is order, and good law is good order.” – Aristotle
20. “Wisdom begins in wonder.” – Socrates

If you want more such quotes, you can check Goodreads. I love that website and you can easily find many amazing quotes about law, wisdom and authority there.

How can Google correct this problem of spam quotes?

This is a serious problem and here is what we think Google can do about it. Since there is no one named T Tymoff, and it is well known that the quote “It is not wisdom but authority that makes a law” was said by Thomas Hobbes, Google can focus on better fact check and keep a fact checking article always in the top 10. That way, people shall be able to understand the difference between spammy content and actual article!