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John Locke

John Locke Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous John Locke Quotes

“The works of nature and the works of revelation display religion to mankind in characters so large and visible that those who are not quite blind may in them see and read the first principles and most necessary parts of it and from thence penet into those infinite depths filled with the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

FirstsMayCharacterReligionPrinciplesMankindInfiniteBlindFilledDepthTreasureVisibleRevelationsDisplayKnowledge And Wisdom
Author:John Locke
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“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
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“..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
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“A man may live long, and die at last in ignorance of many truths, which his mind was capable of knowing, and that with certainty.”

MenMindMayLongLastsDiesKnowingIgnoranceCapableCertainty
Book:Philosophical Works: Preliminary discourse by the editor. On the conduct of the understanding. An essay concerning human understanding
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“Let the awe [the teacher] has upon [children's] minds be so tempered with the constant marks of tenderness and good will, that affection may spur them to their duty, and make them find a pleasure in complying with his dictates. This will bring them with satisfaction to their tutor; make them hearken to him, as to one who is their friend, that cherishes them, and takes pains for their good; this will keep their thoughts easy and free, whilst they are with him, the only temper wherein the mind is capable of receiving new information, and of admitting into itself those impressions.”

MindMayChildrenPainEasyPleasureTeacherTeachingInformationDutyCapableMarkConstantAffectionSatisfactionImpressionAweCherishTemperReceivingTendernessGood WillSpursAdmittingTutorNew InformationComplying
Book:Locke, Berkely & Hume
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“In all things, therefore, where we have clear evidence from our ideas, and those principles of knowledge I have above mentioned, reason is the proper judge; and revelation, though it may, in consenting with it, confirm its dictates, yet cannot in such cases invalidate its decrees: nor can we be obliged, where we have the clear and evident sentience of reason, to quit it for the contrary opinion, under a pretence that it is matter of faith: which can have no authority against the plain and clear dictates of reason.”

MayIdeasMatterReasonFaithOpinionPrinciplesCasesClearJudgingAuthorityEvidenceAll ThingsContraryQuittingRevelationsEvidentObligedDecreePretence
Book:An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
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“If the innocent honest Man must quietly quit all he has for Peace sake, to him who will lay violent hands upon it, I desire it may be considered what kind of Peace there will be in the World, which consists only in Violence and Rapine; and which is to be maintained only for the benefit of Robbers and Oppressors.”

IfsMenWorldKindMayHandsDesireViolenceHonestBenefitsLaysSakeQuittingViolentTyrannyInnocentHonest ManOppressorsRobbers
Book:Two treatises of government
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“It is reported of that prodigy of parts, Monsieur Pascal, that till the decay of his health had impaired his memory, he forgot nothing of what he had done, read, or thought, in any part of his rational age. This is a privilege so little known to most men, that it seems almost incredible to those who, after the ordinary way, measure all others by themselves; but yet, when considered, may help us to enlarge our thoughts towards greater perfections of it, in superior ranks of spirits.”

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Book:The Philosophical Works of John Locke
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“[I]t being reasonable and just, I should have a right to destroy that which threatens me with destruction: for by the fundamental law of nature, man being to be preserved as much as possible, when all cannot be preserved, the safety of the innocent is to be preferred: and one may destroy a man who makes war upon him, or has discovered an enmity to his being, for the same reason that he may kill a Wolf or a lion.”

MenShouldMayWarReasonLawDestructionShould HaveSafetyFundamentalsInnocentReasonableLionsLaws Of NatureEnmity
Book:The Second Treatise of Government: (An Essay Concerning the True Original, Extent and End of Civil Government), And, A Letter Concerning Toleration
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“Brutes abstract not. -- If it may be doubted, whether beasts compound and enlarge their ideas, that way, to any degree; this, I think, I may be positive in, that the power of abstracting is not at all in them; and that the having of general ideas is that which puts a perfect distinction betwixt man and brutes, and is an excellency which the faculties of brutes do by no means attain to.”

IfsThinkingMenWayMayMeanIdeasPerfectDegreesAbstractBeastDistinctionFacultyBrutesBeing PositiveCompoundsDoubted
Book:An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding (Complete)
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“The native and untaught suggestions of inquisitive children do often offer things, that may set a considering man's thoughts on work. And I think there is frequently more to be learn'd from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men, who talk in a road, according to the notions they have borrowed, and the prejudices of their education.”

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Book:Locke, Berkely & Hume
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“Nobody is made anything by hearing of rules, or laying them up in his memory; practice must settle the habit of doing, without reflecting on the rule; and you may as well hope to make a good painter, or musician, extempore, by a lecture and instruction in the arts of music and painting, as a coherent thinker, or a strict reasoner, by a set of rules, showing him wherein right reasoning consists.”

WellsMayArtMadeMemoriesPracticePaintingHabitMusicianHearingPainterSettlingReasoningThinkerInstructionStrictLecturesReflecting
Book:Philosophical Works: Preliminary discourse by the editor. On the conduct of the understanding. An essay concerning human understanding
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“A criminal who, having renounced reason ... hath, by the unjust violence and slaughter he hath committed upon one, declared war against all mankind, and therefore may be destroyed as a lion or tiger, one of those wild savage beasts with whom men can have no society nor security.”

MenMayWarReasonViolenceMankindSecurityCommittedCriminalsDestroyedBeastLionsSavagesUnjustTigersSlaughter
Book:The Second Treatise on Civil Government
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“And because it may be too great a temptation to human frailty, apt to grasp at power, for the same persons, who have the power of making laws, to have also in their hands the power to execute them, whereby they may exempt themselves from obedience to the laws they make, and suit the law, both in its making, and execution, to their own private advantage.”

HumansMayPersonsHandsLawAdvantageTemptationSuitsObedienceExecutionFrailtyHuman Frailties
Book:Two treatises of government
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“The first step to get this noble and manly steadiness, is... carefully keep children from frights of all kinds, when they are young. ...Instances of such who in a weak timorous mind, have borne, all their whole lives through, the effects of a fright when they were young, are every where to be seen, and therefore as much as may be to be prevented.”

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Book:The works of John Locke ...
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