John Locke Quotes

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.

The most precious of all possessions is power over ourselves.

What worries you, masters you.

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.

Who lies for you will lie against you.

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.

Wherever Law ends, Tyranny begins.

Don't let the things you don't have prevent you from using what you do have.

Liberty is to be free from restraint and violence from others

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.

The people cannot delegate to government the power to do anything which would be unlawful for them to do themselves.

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.

With books we stand on the shoulders of giants.

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.

It is one thing to show a man that he is in an error, and another to put him in possession of the truth.

Where there is no law there is no freedom.

Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain.

The discipline of desire is the background of character.

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

God, when he makes the prophet, does not unmake the man.

Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has a right to, but himself.

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

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.

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.

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