Q0247

John Locke

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it…Reason…teaches all mankind…that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.
Thinker John Locke
School Political Philosophy
Source Second Treatise II.6
Theme Justice
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Second Treatise II.6, within the tradition of Political Philosophy. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of justice, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In John Locke's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: John Locke. (n.d.). The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it…Reason…teaches all mankind…that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0247

MLA: John Locke. “The state of nature has a law of….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0247.

Chicago: John Locke. “The state of nature has a law of….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0247.

Same thinker

More from John Locke

  1. Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from experience.
  2. As far as this consciousness can be extended backwards to any past action or thought, so far reaches the identity of that person.
  3. Where there is no law, there is no freedom.
  4. Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters.
  5. Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.

All quotations by John Locke

Same theme

More on justice

  1. It is worse to do injustice than to suffer it.
  2. Justice is doing one's own work and not meddling in others'.
  3. Those who have the Way receive much help; those who lose the Way receive little help.
  4. I say that the noble and good man and woman are happy, and the unjust and wicked are miserable.
  5. One must never do injustice in any way.

Browse the justice theme