“He that having right to doe what he list, doth not use it, is a fool.”Thomas Hobbes · Leviathan · 1651 · Partea I, capitolul 15
Giving up a right for free is not generosity, but a loss without exchange.
In Hobbes's view, people enter society precisely because there they can better secure their rights; giving them up for nothing breaks the logic of the contract. The folly is not a lack of intelligence but a failure of self-preservation rationality: no one should surrender advantages without an equivalent exchange. Example: someone who signs a contract without reading its terms gives up power for nothing.
Hobbes is not inviting you to be selfish. He says something subtler: giving up makes sense only as an exchange. You yield a right in order to receive something else, usually security. Surrendering without anything in return is not generosity, but a miscalculation. Real generosity exists, but it is a choice about others, not about the logic of the contract. That is why the distinction matters: a gift given intentionally is not foolishness, but giving up out of laziness or fear is. Think of a neighbor who lets someone use his land for years without any agreement. He gets nothing back and, over time, may even lose his right to the land. Hobbes would say: you did not renounce it, you simply lost it. The next question: how do you recognize the moment when you are actually giving up too much?
Why it matters The line is useful today whenever someone gives in too easily: in salary negotiations, in relationships, or before terms of service, surrendering for free is a loss, not a virtue.