Quotessence
Home / Authors / John Locke
John Locke

John Locke Quotes

Philosopher

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenMindIfsReasonShouldThinkingMayChildrenUsePhilosophicalIdeasLawLibertyPeopleWayLittlesPropertyScienceWorldGovernment

Famous John Locke Quotes

“Earthly minds, like mud walls, resist the strongest batteries; and though, perhaps, sometimes the force of a clear argument may make some impression, yet they nevertheless stand firm, keep out the enemy, truth, that would captivate or disturbe them.”

MindMaySometimesForceLibertyEnemyClearWallArgumentImpressionFirmStrongestNeverthelessMudBatteriesStand Firm
Book:An essay concerning human understanding ... The twentieth edition, etc
Create image

“..every Man has a Property in his own Person. This no Body has any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body, and the Work of his Hands, we may say, are properly his. .... The great and chief end therefore, of Mens uniting into Commonwealths, and putting themselves under Government, is the Preservation of their Property.”

MenMayPersonsEndsBodyHandsGovernmentLibertyPropertyEvery ManChiefsLabourPreservationFreedom And LibertyIntriguingFreedom LibertyProperty RightsCommonwealthUniting
Author:John Locke
Create image

“Whenever legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience.”

PeopleWarStatesFreedomLibertySlaveryPropertyLibertarianObedienceEndeavorArbitraryFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyProperty RightsLimited GovernmentLegislatorsRights And FreedomsLimited FreedomAmerica Freedom
Book:Two Treatises of Government: With a Supplement, Patriarcha, by Robert Filmer
Create image

“And thus the community perpetually retains a supreme power of saving themselves from the attempts and designs of anybody, even of their legislators, whenever they shall be so foolish, or so wicked, as to lay and carry on designs against the liberties and properties of the subject.”

CommunityLibertySubjectsDesignLaysPropertyFoolishSupremeSavingWickedLegislatorsSupreme Power
Book:The Second Treatise on Civil Government
Create image

“Men in great place are thrice servants; servants of the sovereign state, servants of fame, and servants of business; so as they have no freedom, neither in their persons, nor in their actions, nor in their times. It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty; or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man's self.”

MenPersonsSelfStatesActionDesireLosesLibertyStrangeFameServantSovereignThricePower Over Others
Book:The Conduct of the Understanding: With Sketches of the Lives of Locke and Bacon
Create image

“Whensoever, therefore, the legislative shall transgress this fundamental rule of society, and either by ambition, fear, folly, or corruption, endeavour to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people, by this breach of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into the hands... and it devolves to the people, who have a right to resume their original liberty, and... provide for their own safety and security.”

PeopleHandsPoliticsLibertyEconomySecurityAmbitionAbsolutesOriginalsSafetyFundamentalsCorruptionFollyLiberalismEstatesProperty RightsEndeavourResumesBreachForfeitAbsolute PowerSafety And SecurityBreach Of Trust
Book:Two Treatises of Government: With a Supplement, Patriarcha, by Robert Filmer
Create image

“Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has a right to, but himself.”

MenPersonsLibertySelf EsteemPhilosophicalPropertyLibertarianEvery ManOwnershipPrivate PropertyProperty RightsIndividual RightsLibertarian PartyEvery Man For HimselfProperty OwnershipEnlightenment Thinkers
Book:The Locke Reader: Selections from the Works of John Locke with a General Introduction and Commentary
Create image