New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.
- Topic: Society, Thinking
- Photo: Jeffrey Benjamin
More Quotes from John Locke
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; a liberty to follow my own will in all things when the rule prescribes not, and not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary rule of another man.
Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature; these are the spur and reins whereby al mankind are set on work, and guided.
Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.
Things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state.
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If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.
It was not the truth they wanted, but an illusion they could bear to live with.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.
Since men are neither omniscient nor infallible, they must be free to agree or disagree, to cooperate or to pursue their own independent course, each according to his own rational judgment. Freedom is the fundamental requirement of man's mind.
Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.
Amid the seeming confusion of our mysterious world, individuals are so nicely adjusted to a system, and systems to one another and to a whole, that, by stepping aside for a moment, a man exposes himself to a fearful risk of losing his place forever.
I propose to raise a revolution against the lie that the majority has the monopoly of the truth.
Two percent of the people think; three percent of the people think they think; and ninety-five percent of the people would rather die than think.
Why has government been instituted? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason & justice without constraint.
Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.
O beautiful for spacious skies, For Amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!
The way you habitually think will determine your destiny.
You don’t have to depend on any material possessions, they depend on you, you create them, you own the one and only tool of production.
Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.
Be the witness of your thoughts. You are what observes, not what you observe.
The positive thinker see the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieve the impossible.