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Slavery is so vile and miserable an estate of man, and so directly opposite to the generous temper and courage of our nation; that 'tis hardly to be conceived, that an Englishman, much less a gentleman, should plead for it.

— John Locke Two Treatises on Government (1689)

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Slavery

More quotes by John Locke

There cannot any one moral Rule be propos'd, whereof a Man may not justly demand a Reason.

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

Freedom of Nature is, to be under no other restraint but the Law of Nature.

Two Treatises of Government (1689)

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.

It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of the truth.

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

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What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence?

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The worker is the slave of capitalist society, the female worker is the slave of that slave.

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The Autocrat of all the Russias will resign his crown, and proclaim his subjects free republicans sooner than will our American masters voluntarily give up their slaves.

Abraham Lincoln

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Locke (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.