John Locke Quotes on Mind
John Locke was an English philosopher and physician, regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. This page collects quotes attributed to John Locke on the topic of mind, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.”
As quoted in "Hand Book : Caution and Counsels" in The Common School Journal Vol. 5, No. 24 (15 December 1843) by Horace Mann , p. 371 -
“There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men.”
Sec. 121 -
Attributed to John Locke:
“The dread of evil is a much more forcible principle of human actions than the prospect of good.”
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“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.”
Journal entry (16 May 1681), quoted in Maurice Cranston, John Locke: A Biography (1957; 1985), p. 200