Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

John Locke Philosopher

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: England
  • Born: Aug 29, 1632
  • Died: Oct 28, 1704

John Locke FRS, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and known as the "Father of Classical Liberalism". Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence.

Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such as Hume, Rousseau, and Kant. Locke was the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. He postulated that, at birth, the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa.

As people are walking all the time, in the same spot, a path appears.

Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.

The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men.

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

All men are liable to error and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.

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