John Locke Quotes: Sources, Meanings & Themes
Browse quotations by John Locke with named works, context notes, meanings and recurring themes.
Source identified1
Read & copy
“The toleration of those that differ from others in matters of religion is so agreeable to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to the genuine reason of mankind, that it seems monstrous for men to be so blind as not to perceive the necessity and advantage of it in so clear a light.”
Meaning & context
Locke argues that religious difference should not by itself justify coercion or persecution, grounding toleration both in his reading of Christianity and in a broader appeal to human reason.
Source details
A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), public-domain text also preserved in The Works of John Locke. Locke immediately distinguishes civil government from religion and argues that persecution should not be disguised as care for souls. His historical position had limits, so this page does not present the letter as a complete modern theory of equal religious freedom.
Source identified2
Read & copy
“Our business here is not to know all things, but those which concern our conduct.”
Meaning & context
Locke places useful limits around intellectual ambition: human inquiry need not comprehend everything in order to guide life well, and knowing where understanding stops is part of using it responsibly.
Source details
An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Book I, Chapter I, section 6, Project Gutenberg #10615. Locke follows his sounding-line analogy by saying that our business is not to know all things but those concerning conduct. The passage belongs to seventeenth-century epistemology and moral reflection, not a modern cognitive-science finding.
Source identified3
Read & copy
“Curiosity in children is but an appetite after knowledge; and therefore ought to be encouraged in them.”
Meaning & context
Locke treats curiosity as a natural drive toward knowledge and argues that education should protect and guide it rather than shame sincere questions.
Source details
Some Thoughts Concerning Education, Part VIII, section 118. Locke calls children's curiosity an appetite after knowledge and gives practical directions for encouraging questions. The passage remains seventeenth-century educational/parenting counsel rather than contemporary developmental-science or guaranteed learning-outcome evidence.
