John Locke, an English philosopher whose works lie at the foundation of modern philosophical empiricism and political liberalism. He was an inspirer of both the European Enlightenment and the Constitution of the United States. His philosophical thinking was close to that of the founders of modern science, especially Robert Boyle, Sir Isaac Newton, and other members of the Royal Society. This John Locke quotes will motivate you.
Best John Locke Quotes
- “All men by nature are equal in that equal right that every man hath to his natural freedom, without being subjected to the will or authority of any other man; being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.” ~ John Locke
- “What worries you, masters you.” ~ John Locke
- “I have no reason to suppose that he, who would take away my Liberty, would not when he had me in his Power, take away everything else.” ~ John Locke
- “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.” ~ John Locke
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“Who lies for you will lie against you.” ~ John Locke
- “The most precious of all possessions is power over ourselves.” ~ John Locke
- “Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we can preserve no other.” ~ John Locke
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“Wherever Law ends, Tyranny begins.” ~ John Locke
- “Don’t let the things you don’t have prevent you from using what you do have.” ~ John Locke
- “The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom.” ~ John Locke, John Locke quotes about freedom
- “Our incomes are like our shoes; if too small, they gall and pinch us; but if too large, they cause us to stumble and to trip.” ~ John Locke
- “Liberty is to be free from restraint and violence from others” ~ John Locke
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“Logic is the anatomy of thought.” ~ John Locke
- “Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.” ~ John Locke
- “Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company, and reflection must finish him.” ~ John Locke, John Locke quotes on education
- “Revolt is the right of the people” ~ John Locke
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“Who are we to tell anyone what they can or can’t do?” ~ John Locke
- “There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men.” ~ John Locke
- “The people cannot delegate to government the power to do anything which would be unlawful for them to do themselves.” ~ John Locke, John Locke quotes on government
- “I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.” ~ John Locke
- “It is one thing to show a man that he is in an error, and another to put him in possession of the truth.” ~ John Locke
- “With books, we stand on the shoulders of giants.” ~ John Locke
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“Where there is no law there is no freedom.” ~ John Locke
- “When we know our own strength, we shall the better know what to undertake with hopes of success.” ~ John Locke
- “No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience.” ~ John Locke
- “Freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society and made by the legislative power vested in it and not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, arbitrary will of another man.” ~ John Locke
- “[Individuals] have a right to defend themselves and recover by force what by unlawful force is taken from them.” ~ John Locke
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“Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has a right to, but himself.” ~ John Locke
- “It is one thing to persuade, another to command; one thing to press with arguments, another with penalties.” ~ John Locke
- “Tis a Mistake to think this Fault [tyranny] is proper only to Monarchies; other Forms of Government are liable to it, as well as that. For where-ever the Power that is put in any hands for the Government of the People, and the Preservation of their Properties, is applied to other ends, and made use of to impoverish, harass, or subdue them to the Arbitrary and Irregular Commands of those that have it: There it presently becomes Tyranny, whether those that thus use it are one or many.” ~ John Locke
- “Curiosity in children, is but an appetite for knowledge. The great reason why children abandon themselves wholly to silly pursuits and trifle away their time insipidly is, because they find their curiosity balked, and their inquiries neglected.” ~ John Locke
- “All mankind… being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.” ~ John Locke
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“How long have you been holding those words in your head, hoping to use them?” ~ John Locke
- “To love our neighbor as ourselves is such a truth for regulating human society, that by that alone one might determine all the cases in social morality.” ~ John Locke
- “New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.” ~ John Locke
- “The great question which, in all ages, has disturbed mankind, and brought on them the greatest part of their mischiefs … has been, not whether be power in the world, nor whence it came, but who should have it.” ~ John Locke
- “A father would do well, as his son grows up, and is capable of it, to talk familiarly with him; nay, ask his advice, and consult with him about those things wherein he has any knowledge or understanding. By this, the father will gain two things, both of great moment. The sooner you treat him as a man, the sooner he will begin to be one; and if you admit him into serious discourses sometimes with you, you will insensibly raise his mind above the usual amusements of youth, and those trifling occupations which it is commonly wasted in.” ~ John Locke
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“Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.” ~ John Locke
- “But there is only one thing which gathers people into seditious commotion, and that is oppression” ~ John Locke
- “If any one shall claim a power to lay and levy taxes on the people by his own authority and without such consent of the people, he thereby invades the fundamental law of property, and subverts the end of government.” ~ John Locke
- “The discipline of desire is the background of character.” ~ John Locke
- “The power of the legislative being derived from the people by a positive voluntary grant and institution, can be no other than what that positive grant conveyed, which being only to make laws, and not to make legislators, the legislative can have no power to transfer their authority of making laws, and place it in other hands.” ~ John Locke
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“Success in fighting means not coming at your opponent the way he wants to fight you.” ~ John Locke
- “Every man carries about him a touchstone if he will make use of it, to distinguish substantial gold from superficial glitterings, truth from appearances. And indeed the use and benefit of this touchstone, which is natural reason, is spoiled and lost only by assuming prejudices, overweening presumption, and narrowing our minds.” ~ John Locke, John Locke quotes on lost
- “What if everything that happened here, happened for a reason?” ~ John Locke
- “To love truth for truth’s sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world and the seed-plot of all other virtues.” ~ John Locke
- “Whoever uses force without Right … puts himself into a state of War with those, against whom he uses it, and in that state all former Ties are canceled, all other Rights cease, and everyone has a Right to defend himself and to resist the Aggressor.” ~ John Locke
- “The Bible is one of the greatest blessings bestowed by God on the children of men. It has God for its author; salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture for its matter. It is all pure.” ~ John Locke
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“The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.” ~ John Locke
- “The body of People may with Respect resist intolerable Tyranny.” ~ John Locke
- “He that will have his son have respect for him and his orders, must himself have a great reverence for his son.” ~ John Locke
- “There are a thousand ways to Wealth, but only one way to Heaven.” ~ John Locke
- “Reason must be our last judge and guide in everything.” ~ John Locke
- “Till a man can judge whether they be truths or not, his understanding is but little improved, and thus men of much reading, though greatly learned, but maybe little knowing.” ~ John Locke
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“He that will make good use of any part of his life must allow a large part of it to recreation.” ~ John Locke
- “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.” ~ John Locke
- “He that uses his words loosely and unsteadily will either not be minded or not understood.” ~ John Locke
- “The business of education is not to make the young perfect in any one of the sciences, but so to open and dispose their minds as may best make them – capable of any, when they shall apply themselves to it.” ~ John Locke
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“Where there is no desire, there will be no industry.” ~ John Locke
- “Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses.” ~ John Locke
- “No peace and security among mankind-let alone common friendship-can ever exist as long as people think that governments get their authority from God and that religion is to be propagated by force of arms.” ~ John Locke, John Locke quotes on religion
- “To prejudge other men’s notions before we have looked into them is not to show their darkness but to put out our own eyes.” ~ John Locke
- “Firmness or stiffness of the mind is not from adherence to truth, but submission to prejudice.” ~ John Locke
- “The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.” ~ John Locke
- “All the entertainment and talk of history is nothing almost but fighting and killing: and the honor and renown that is bestowed on conquerors (who for the most part are but the great butchers of mankind) farther mislead growing youth, who by this means come to think slaughter the laudable business of mankind, and the most heroic of virtues.” ~ John Lock
