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51 of the Best John Locke Quotes (GOVERNMENT)

Top 10 Most Famous John Locke Quotes (BEST)

“The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”

John Locke
Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.Pin
Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.
I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.Pin
I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.
Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.Pin
Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not common.Pin
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not common.
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.Pin
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.
We are like chameleons. We take our hue and the color of our moral character, from those who are around us.Pin
We are like chameleons. We take our hue and the color of our moral character, from those who are around us.
All wealth is the product of labor.Pin
All wealth is the product of labor.
The only defense against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.Pin
The only defense against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.
Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves poison the fountain.Pin
Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves poison the fountain.

6 Inspirational John Locke Quotes

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.Pin
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.
The discipline of desire is the background of character.Pin
The discipline of desire is the background of character.
Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has a right to, but himself.Pin
Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has a right to, but himself.
Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.Pin
Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.
An excellent man, like precious metal, is in every way invariable; A villain, like the beams of a balance, is always varying, upwards and downwards.Pin
An excellent man, like precious metal, is in every way invariable; A villain, like the beams of a balance, is always varying, upwards and downwards.
We are born to be, if we please, rational creatures, but it is use and exercise only that makes us so.Pin
We are born to be, if we please, rational creatures, but it is use and exercise only that makes us so.

4 John Locke Quotes on Money and Income

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.Pin
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.
The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.Pin
The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.
Fashion for the most part is nothing but the ostentation of riches.Pin
Fashion for the most part is nothing but the ostentation of riches.
There are a thousand ways to wealth, but only one way to Heaven.Pin
There are a thousand ways to wealth, but only one way to Heaven.

3 John Locke Quotes to Live By (WISDOM)

“A sound mind in a sound body, is a short, but full description of a happy state in this World: he that has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants either of them, will be little the better for anything else.”

John Locke
Our business here is not to know all things, but those which concern our conduct.Pin
Our business here is not to know all things, but those which concern our conduct.
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.Pin
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.

6 John Locke Quotes on Truth and Knowledge (EDUCATION)

Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him.Pin
Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him.
It is one thing to show a man that he is in an error, and another to put him in possession of the truth.Pin
It is one thing to show a man that he is in an error, and another to put him in possession of the truth.
No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.Pin
No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience.
Where all is but dream, reasoning and arguments are of no use, truth and knowledge nothing.Pin
Where all is but dream, reasoning and arguments are of no use, truth and knowledge nothing.
One unerring mark of the love of truth is not entertaining any proposition with greater assurance than the proofs it is built upon will warrant.Pin
One unerring mark of the love of truth is not entertaining any proposition with greater assurance than the proofs it is built upon will warrant.
Long discourses, and philosophical readings, at best, amaze and confound, but do not instruct children.Pin
Long discourses, and philosophical readings, at best, amaze and confound, but do not instruct children.

5 John Locke Quotes on Politics and Freedom

“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
Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.Pin
Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.
Revolt is the right of the people.Pin
Revolt is the right of the people.
What worries you, masters you.Pin
What worries you, masters you.
But there is only one thing which gathers people into seditious commotion, and that is oppression.Pin
But there is only one thing which gathers people into seditious commotion, and that is oppression.

12 Wise John Locke Quotes that will Make You Think

Few men think, yet all will have opinions. Hence men’s opinions are superficial and confused.Pin
Few men think, yet all will have opinions. Hence men’s opinions are superficial and confused.
There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men.Pin
There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men.
Now, I appeal to the consciences of those who persecute, wound, torture, and kill other men on the excuse of ‘religion’, whether they do this in a spirit of friendship and kindness.Pin
Now, I appeal to the consciences of those who persecute, wound, torture, and kill other men on the excuse of ‘religion’, whether they do this in a spirit of friendship and kindness.
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.Pin
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.
Things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state.Pin
Things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state.
All men are liable to error; and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.Pin
All men are liable to error; and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.
The dread of evil is a much more forcible principle of human actions than the prospect of good.Pin
The dread of evil is a much more forcible principle of human actions than the prospect of good.
We should have a great fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves.Pin
We should have a great fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves.
It is easier for a tutor to command than to teach.Pin
It is easier for a tutor to command than to teach.
Reverie is when ideas float in our mind without reflection or regard of the understanding.Pin
Reverie is when ideas float in our mind without reflection or regard of the understanding.
I have spent more than half a lifetime trying to express the tragic moment.Pin
I have spent more than half a lifetime trying to express the tragic moment.
Any one reflecting upon the thought he has of the delight, which any present or absent thing is apt to produce in him, has the idea we call love.Pin
Any one reflecting upon the thought he has of the delight, which any present or absent thing is apt to produce in him, has the idea we call love.

5 John Locke Quotes on Religion

“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
Whosoever will list himself under the banner of Christ, must, in the first place and above all things, make war upon his own lusts and vices.Pin
Whosoever will list himself under the banner of Christ, must, in the first place and above all things, make war upon his own lusts and vices.
He that denies any of the doctrines that Christ has delivered, to be true, denies him to be sent from God, and consequently to be the Messiah; and so ceases to be a Christian.Pin
He that denies any of the doctrines that Christ has delivered, to be true, denies him to be sent from God, and consequently to be the Messiah; and so ceases to be a Christian.
As men, we have God for our King, and are under the law of reason as Christians, we have Jesus the Messiah for our King, and are under the law revealed by him in the gospel.Pin
As men, we have God for our King, and are under the law of reason: as Christians, we have Jesus the Messiah for our King, and are under the law revealed by him in the gospel.

“So that, in effect, religion, which should most distinguish us from beasts, and ought most peculiarly to elevate us, as rational creatures, above brutes, is that wherein men often appear most irrational, and more senseless than beasts themselves.”

John Locke
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