John Locke Quotes
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Justice and truth are the common ties of society.
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Children have as much mind to shew that they are free, that their own good actions come from themselves, that they are absolute and independent, as any of the proudest of you grown men, think of them as you please.
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Wherever Law ends, Tyranny begins.
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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.
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There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men.
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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.
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Every Man being conscious to himself, That he thinks, and that which his Mind is employ'd about whilst thinking, being the Ideas, that are there, 'tis past doubt, that Men have in their Minds several Ideas, such as are those expressed by the words, Whiteness, Hardness, Sweetness, Thinking, Motion, Man, Elephant, Army, Drunkenness, and others: It is in the first place then to be inquired, How he comes by them? I know it is a received Doctrine, That Men have native Ideas, and original Characters stamped upon their Minds, in their very first Being.
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Curiosity should be as carefully cherish'd in children, as other appetites suppress'd.
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To teach him betimes to love and be good-natur'd to others, is to lay early the true foundation of an honest man; all injustice generally springing from too great love of ourselves and too little of others.
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The tendency to cruelty should be watched in children and if they incline to any such cruelty, they should be taught the contrary usage. For the custom of tormenting and killing other animals will, by degrees, harden their hearts even toward man. Children should from the beginning, be brought up in an abhorrence of killing or tormenting living beings.
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Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.
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Faith is the assent to any proposition not made out by the deduction of reason but upon the credit of the proposer.
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To give a man full knowledge of morality, I would send him to no other book than the New Testament.
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A sound mind in a sound body, is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.
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There are two sides, two players. One is light, the other is dark.
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Virtue is everywhere that which is thought praiseworthy; and nothing else but that which has the allowance of public esteem is called virtue.
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If man in the state of nature be so free, as has been said; if he be absolute lord of his own person and possessions, equal to the greatest, and subject to no body, why will he part with his freedom, this empire, and subject himself to the dominion and control of any other power?
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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.
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The visible mark of extraordinary wisdom and power appear so plainly in all the works of creation.
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The great art to learn much is to undertake a little at a time.
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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.
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The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.
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Defects and weakness in men's understandings, as well as other faculties, come from want of a right use of their own minds; I am apt to think, the fault is generally mislaid upon nature, and there is often a complaint of want of parts, when the fault lies in want of a due improvement of them.
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Vague and mysterious forms of speech, and abuse of language, have so long passed for mysteries of science; and hard or misapplied words with little or no meaning have, by prescription, such a right to be mistaken for deep learning and height of speculation, that it will not be easy to persuade either those who speak or those who hear them, that they are but the covers of ignorance and hindrance of true knowledge.