Q0334

John Locke

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

Where there is no law, there is no freedom.
Thinker John Locke
School Empiricism
Source Second Treatise VI.57
Theme Freedom
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Second Treatise VI.57, within the tradition of Empiricism. 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 freedom, 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.). Where there is no law, there is no freedom. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0334

MLA: John Locke. “Where there is no law, there is no….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0334.

Chicago: John Locke. “Where there is no law, there is no….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0334.

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. 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.
  3. As far as this consciousness can be extended backwards to any past action or thought, so far reaches the identity of that person.
  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 freedom

  1. Extreme freedom seems to change into nothing but extreme slavery.
  2. Of things, some are in our power, and some are not.
  3. It is not things that disturb people, but their judgments about things.
  4. He who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave.
  5. If you are distressed by anything external, it is not the thing itself that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it.

Browse the freedom theme