We are like chameleons; we take our hue and the color of our moral character from those who are around us." - Meaning and context.">
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Attributed to Locke on various quotes sites and on social media, this quotation is a false rendering of "We are all a sort of chameleons, that still take a tincture from things near us: nor is it to be wondered at in children, who better understand what they see, than what they hear" from Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693).
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We are like chameleons; we take our hue and the color of our moral character from those who are around us.

— John Locke

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "We are like chameleons; we take our hue and the color of our moral character from those who are around us." in the context of "Attributed to Locke on various quotes sites and on social media, this quotation is a false rendering of "We are all a sort of chameleons, that still take a tincture from things near us: nor is it to be wondered at in children, who better understand what they see, than what they hear" from Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693)." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "John Locke" (Misattributed) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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John Locke

About John Locke

John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an influential English philosopher and social contract theorist. He developed an alternative to the Hobbesian state of nature and asserted a government could be good only if it received the consent of the governed and protected the natural rights of life, liberty, and estate. If such a consent was not achieved, Locke argued in favour of a right of rebellion, which he referred to as an "appeal to heaven".