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John Locke

(1632-1704) English empiricist philosopher and political theorist

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Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature: these are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work, and guided.

– John Locke

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A dreamer lives forever, and a toiler dies in a day.

– John Locke

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All wealth is the product of labor.

– John Locke

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Government has no other end than the preservation of property.

– John Locke

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

– John Locke

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Practice conquers the habit of doing, without reflecting on the rule.

– John Locke

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

– John Locke

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The action of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts.

– John Locke

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New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.

– John Locke

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

– John Locke

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Curiosity in children, is but an appetite for knowledge. One great reason why children abandon themselves wholly to silly pursuits and trifle away their time insipidly is, because they find their curiosity balked, and their inquiries neglected.

– John Locke

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

– John Locke

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Fashion for the most part is nothing but the ostentation of riches.

– John Locke

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We are a kind of Chameleons, taking our hue - the hue of our moral character, from those who are about us.

– John Locke

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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.

– John Locke

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There cannot be greater rudeness than to interrupt another in the current of his discourse.

– John Locke

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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.

– John Locke

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

– John Locke

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The discipline of desire is the background of character.

– John Locke

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

– John Locke

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Earthly minds, like mud walls, resist the strongest batteries; and though, perhaps, somethimes the force of a clear argument may make some impression, yet they nevertheless stand firm, keep out the enemy, truth, that would captivate or disturbe them.

– John Locke

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Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.

– John Locke

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Freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society and made by the legislative power vested in it and not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, arbitrary will of another man.

– John Locke

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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 every thing else

– John Locke

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I think it every man's indispensable duty to do all the service he can to his country and I see not what difference he puts between himself and his cattle who lives without that thought.

– John Locke

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Men being by nature all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of his estate and subjected to the political power of another without his own consent which is done by agreeing with other men, to join and unite into a community for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living in a secure enjoyment of their properties.

– John Locke

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New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without anyother reason but because they are not already common.

– John Locke

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

– John Locke

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The Care therefore of every man's Soul belongs unto himself, and is to be left unto himself. But what if he neglect the Care of his Soul? I answer, What if he neglects the Care of his Health, or of his Estate, which things are nearlier related to the Government of the Magistrate than the other? Will the magistrate provide by an express Law, That such an one shall not become poor or sick? Laws provide, as much as is possible, that the Goods and Health of Subjects be not injured by the Fraud and Violence of others; they do not guard them from the Negligence or Ill-husbandry of the Possessors themselves.

– John Locke

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The dread of evil is a much more forcible principle of human actions than the prospect of good.

– John Locke

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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

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The Natural Liberty of Man is to be free from any Superior Power on Earth, and not to be under the Will or Legislative Authority of Man, but to have only the Law of Nature for his Rule.

– John Locke

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

– John Locke

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

– John Locke

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The visible mark of extraordinary wisdom and power appear so plainly in all the works of creation.

– John Locke

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Till a man can judge whether they be truths or not, his understanding is but little improved, and thus men of much reading, though greatly learned, but may be little knowing.

– John Locke

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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.

– John Locke

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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.

– John Locke

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

– John Locke

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[W]henever the 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 farther Obedience, and are left to the common Refuge, which God hath provided for all Men, against Force and Violence. Whensoever therefore the Legislative shall transgress this fundamental Rule of Society; and either by Ambition, Fear, Folly or Corruption, endeavor to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other an Absolute Power over the Lives, Liberties, and Estates of the People; By this breach of Trust they forfeit the Power, the People had put into their hands, for quite contrary ends, and it devolves to the people, who have a Right to resume their original Liberty.

– John Locke

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