John Locke

John Locke

20 quotes

As an English philosopher and physician, John Locke earned a lasting place in the canon of memorable quotations. Known for the "father of liberalism", their words carry the weight of lived experience. Browse 27 quotes by John Locke that cover ground from Truth, Knowledge, Men, Society, and Time. One quote that captures their voice: "As people are walking all the time, in the same spot, a path appears."

“The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.”

— John Locke

Knowledge

All Quotes by John Locke

“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge it is thinking that makes what we read ours.”

— John Locke

Knowledge

“Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.”

— John Locke

Government

“The improvement of understanding is for two ends: first, our own increase of knowledge secondly, to enable us to deliver that knowledge to others.”

— John Locke

Knowledge

“The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.”

— John Locke

Knowledge

“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

God

“As people are walking all the time, in the same spot, a path appears.”

— John Locke

Time

“It is of great use to the sailor to know the length of his line, though he cannot with it fathom all the depths of the ocean.”

— John Locke

Great

“Where all is but dream, reasoning and arguments are of no use, truth and knowledge nothing.”

— John Locke

Knowledge

“No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.”

— John Locke

Experience

“There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men.”

— John Locke

Men

“Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him.”

— John Locke

Education

“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

Truth

“The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.”

— John Locke

Society

“All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.”

— John Locke

Health

“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

Alone

“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.”

— John Locke

Truth

“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”

— John Locke

Best

“All men are liable to error and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.”

— John Locke

Men

“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

Finance

“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

Freedom