Neither the inveterateness of the mischief, nor the prevalency of the fashion, shall be any excuse for those who will not take care about the meaning of their own words, and will not suffer the insignificancy of their expressions to be inquired into.
JOHN LOCKETruth certainly would do well enough, if she were once left to shift for herself…She is not taught by laws, nor has she any need of force, to procure her entrance into the minds of men.
More John Locke Quotes
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The mind is furnished with ideas by experience alone
JOHN LOCKE -
Knowledge being to be had only of visible and certain truth, error is not a fault of our knowledge, but a mistake of our judgment, giving assent to that which is not true.
JOHN LOCKE -
That which parents should take care of… is to distinguish between the wants of fancy, and those of nature.
JOHN LOCKE -
Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.
JOHN LOCKE -
It is practice alone that brings the powers of the mind, as well as those of the body, to their perfection.
JOHN LOCKE -
Where there is no desire, there will be no industry.
JOHN LOCKE -
I find every sect, as far as reason will help them, make use of it gladly: and where it fails them, they cry out, It is a matter of faith, and above reason.
JOHN LOCKE -
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.
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 every one has a Right to defend himself, and to resist the Aggressor.
JOHN LOCKE -
All rising to great place is by a winding stair; and if there be factions, it is good to side a man’s self whilst he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is placed.
JOHN LOCKE -
I do not say this, that I think there should be no difference of opinions in conversation, nor opposition in men’s discourses… ‘Tis not the owning one’s dissent from another, that I speak against, but the manner of doing it.
JOHN LOCKE -
Children generally hate to be idle; all the care then is that their busy humour should be constantly employed in something of use to them
JOHN LOCKE -
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.
JOHN LOCKE -
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.
JOHN LOCKE -
The greatest part of mankind … are given up to labor, and enslaved to the necessity of their mean condition; whose lives are worn out only in the provisions for living.
JOHN LOCKE