All men are liable to error; and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.
Use itGS4 on conflict of interest; passion and self-interest tempt all to error.
Quotes / Thinkers / John Locke
Thinker · 21 quotes
John Locke quotes for UPSC
21 sourced quotes by John Locke on character & virtue, justice & rule of law, compassion & empathy, education & knowledge, truth & wisdom, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.
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I am sure, zeal or love for truth can never permit falsehood to be used in the defence of it.
Use itGS4: ends vs means; a good cause never justifies lying.
Children (nay, and men too) do most by example.
Use itGS4: role of family in inculcating values; children learn from conduct, not sermons.
I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.
Use itGS4: judge people by actions, not words.
Virtue is harder to be got than knowledge of the world; and, if lost in a young man, is seldom recovered.
Use itGS4: why character-building must start early; lost virtue is hard to regain.
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.
Use itGS4: selfishness as root of injustice; empathy as foundation of honesty.
Children should from the beginning be bred up in an abhorrence of killing or tormenting any living creature; and be taught not to spoil or destroy any thing, unless it be for the preservation or advantage of some other that is nobler.
Use itGS4: animal welfare ethics; compassion towards all living beings taught from childhood.
Truly, if the preservation of all mankind, as much as in him lies, were every one's persuasion, as indeed it is every one's duty, and the true principle to regulate our religion, politicks and morality by, the world would be much quieter, and better natur'd than it is.
Use itEssay on universal brotherhood; preserving humanity as every person's duty.
But there is only one thing which gathers people into seditious commotion, and that is oppression.
— John LockeA Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)
Use itGS3 internal security: oppression, not people, drives unrest—address root causes.
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 laws, where there is no law there is no freedom.
— John LockeSecond Treatise of Government, Ch. VI, sec. 57
Use itGS2: law exists to preserve and enlarge freedom—no law, no freedom.
The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.
— John LockeSecond Treatise of Government, Ch. II, sec. 6
Use itGS2 on natural rights; all equal, none may harm another's life, liberty or property.
It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of the truth.
Use itEssay on fighting misinformation; debunking error is not the same as teaching truth.
They should always be heard, and fairly and kindly answer'd, when they ask after any thing they would know, and desire to be informed about. Curiosity should be as carefully cherish'd in children, as other appetites suppress'd.
Use itEssay on education reform; argue for nurturing curiosity over rote learning.
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 LockeLetter to Anthony Collins (29 October 1703)
Use itGS4: love of truth as the root of all other virtues.
False and doubtful positions, relied upon as unquestionable maxims, keep those who build on them in the dark from truth. Such are usually the prejudices imbibed from education, party, reverence, fashion, interest, et cetera.
Use itGS4: unexamined prejudices from party, fashion and interest block truth.
As usurpation is the exercise of power which another has a right to, so tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which nobody can have a right to...
— John LockeSecond Treatise of Government, Ch. XVIII, sec. 199
Use itGS2/GS4: tyranny is power exercised beyond right—limits on state power.
He that uses his words loosely and unsteadily will either not be minded or not understood.
Use itInterview/answer writing: use words precisely or you won't be understood.
I do not say this, that I think there should be no difference of opinions in conversation, nor opposition in men's discourses... 'Tis not the owning one's dissent from another, that I speak against, but the manner of doing it.
Use itEssay on dissent in democracy: disagreement is healthy, but the manner matters.
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.
— John LockeDedicatory epistle, as quoted in
Use itEssay on innovation; new ideas are opposed merely for being uncommon.
The three great things that govern mankind are reason, passion and superstition. The first governs a few, the two last share the bulk of mankind and possess them in their turns. But superstition most powerfully produces the greatest mischief.
— John LockeJournal entry (16 May 1681), quoted in Maurice Cranston, John Locke: A Biography (1957; 1985), p. 200
Use itEssay on scientific temper; superstition causes the greatest mischief.
A sound mind in a sound body, is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.
Use itLife/Essay on wellness: a sound mind in a sound body is true happiness.