The English philosopher and political theorist John Locke (1632-1704) laid much of the groundwork for the Enlightenment and made central contributions to the development of liberalism.
The English philosopher and political theorist John Locke (1632-1704) laid much of the groundwork for the Enlightenment and made central contributions to the development of liberalism.
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John Locke
Locke was trained in medicine and he was a key advocate of the empirical approaches of the Scientific Revolution. It was his political theory of government by the consent of the governed as a means to protect 'life, liberty and estate' that deeply influenced the United States’ founding documents. His essays on religious tolerance provided an early model for the separation of church and state.
Here are some of the quotes
>> A sound mind in a sound body, is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.
>> What worries you, masters you.
>> Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him.
>> We are like chameleons, we take our hue and the color of our moral character, from those who are around us.
>> 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.
>> Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.
>> No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.
>> The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.
>> New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.