John Locke

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.

Truth, like gold, is not less so for being newly brought out of the mine.

The thoughts that come often unsought, and, as it were, drop into the mind, are commonly the most valuable of any we have.

It is easier for a tutor to command than to teach.

Where there is no property there is no injustice.

Affectation is an awkward and forced imitation of what should be genuine and easy, wanting the beauty that accompanies what is natural.

Some eyes want spectacles to see things clearly and distinctly: but let not those that use them therefore say nobody can see clearly without them.

Untruth being unacceptable to the mind of man, there is no other defence left for absurdity but obscurity.

The visible marks of extraordinary wisdom and power appear so plainly in all the works of creation that a rational creature who will but seriously reflect on them cannot miss the discovery of a diety.

There is not so contemptible a plant or animal that does not confound the most enlarged understanding.

There cannot any one moral rule be proposed whereof a man may not justly demand a reason.

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.

Wherever law ends, tyranny begins.

He that judges without informing himself to the utmost that he is capable, cannot acquit himself of judging amiss.

There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men, who talk in a road, according to the notions they have borrowed and the prejudices of their education.

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

Though the familiar use of things about us take off our wonder, yet it cures not our ignorance.

What humanity abhors, custom reconciles and recommends to us.

Action [is] the great business of mankind, and the whole matter about which all laws are conversant.

Religion, which should most distinguish us from the beasts, and ought most particularly elevate us, as rational creatures, above brutes, is that wherein men often appear most irrational, and more senseless than beasts.

Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.

I believe half the unhappiness in life comes from people being afraid to go straight at things. William J.

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.

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

All wealth is the product of labor.

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.

That which is static and repetitive is boring. That which is dynamic and random is confusing. In between lies art. John A.

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

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.

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

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

It is vain to find fault with those arts of deceiving, wherein men find pleasure to be deceived.

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

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

The great and chief end, therefore, of men’s uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property.

The only way by which any one divests himself of his natural liberty and puts on the bonds of civil society is by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community.