Quotes by "John Locke"

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

A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.

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

All wealth is the product of labor

We are like chameleons, we take our hue and the color of our moral character, from those who are around us.

For where is the man that has incontestable evidence of the truth of all that he holds, or of the falsehood of all he condemns; or can say that he has examined to the bottom all his own, or other men's opinions? The necessity of believing without knowledge, nay often upon very slight grounds, in this fleeting state of action and blindness we are in, should make us more busy and careful to inform ourselves than constrain others.

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.

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.

The only defense against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.

the UNDERSTANDING— who does not know that, as it is the most elevated faculty of the soul, so it is employed with a greater and more constant delight than any of the other. Its searches after truth are a sort of hawking and hunting, wherein the very pursuit makes a great part of the pleasure. Every step the mind takes in its progress towards Knowledge makes some discovery ... the understanding, like the eye, judging of objects only by its own sight, cannot but be pleased with what it discovers, having less regret for what has escaped it, because it is unknown. Thus he who has raised himself above the alms-basket, and, not content to live lazily on scraps of begged opinions, sets his own thoughts on work, to find and follow truth, will (whatever he lights on) not miss the hunter’s satisfaction; every moment of his pursuit will reward his pains with some delight; and he will have reason to think his time not ill spent, even when he cannot much boast of any great acquisition.

I think I may say, that of all the men we meet with, nine parts of ten are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education

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.

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.

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

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.

I attribute the little I know to my not having been ashamed to ask for information, and to my rule of conversing with all descriptions of men on those topics that form their own peculiar professions and pursuits.

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.

The discipline of desire is the background of character.

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.

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