New Opinions Are Always Suspected And

From the Introduction to An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). John Locke wrote this partly as a sociological observation and partly as a methodological warning to himself: ideas should be evaluated on their merits, not by how widely they are held. He was keenly aware that his own work — denying innate ideas, questioning the authority of the Church, and supporting religious toleration — would be met with exactly the resistance he describes here. The Essay was initially published anonymously to reduce the risk of censure.