David Hume quotes

That the sun will not rise tomorrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction, than the affirmation, that it will rise. (David Hume)
Belief is nothing but a more vivid, lively, forcible, firm, steady conception of an object, than what the imagination alone is ever able to attain. View quote
David Hume
Beauty is no quality in things themselves. It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them. View quote
David Hume
A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence. View quote
David Hume
He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper but he is more excellent who can suit his temper to any circumstances. View quote
David Hume
No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavors to establish. View quote
David Hume
Everything in the world is purchased by labor. View quote
David Hume
The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster. View quote
David Hume
A propensity to hope and joy is real riches; one to fear and sorrow real poverty. View quote
David Hume
This avidity alone, of acquiring goods and possessions for ourselves and our nearest friends, is insatiable, perpetual, universal, and directly destructive of society. View quote
David Hume
Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous. (David Hume)
Custom is the great guide to human life. View quote
David Hume
Heaven and hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad. But the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue. View quote
David Hume
Eloquence, at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection, but addresses itself entirely to the desires and affections, captivating the willing hearers, and subduing their understanding. View quote
David Hume
Be a philosopher but, amid all your philosophy be still a man. View quote
David Hume
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. View quote
David Hume
Art may make a suite of clothes, but nature must produce a man. View quote
David Hume
Truth springs from argument amongst friends. View quote
David Hume
Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them. View quote
David Hume
Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principals. View quote
David Hume
When men are the most sure and arrogant they are commonly the most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation and suspense which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities. (David Hume)
There is an inconvenience which attends all abstruse reasoning. That it may silence, without convincing an antagonist, and requires the same intense study to make us sensible of its force, that was at first requisite for its invention. When we leave our closet, and engage in the common affairs of life, its conclusions seem to vanish, like the phantoms of the night on the appearance of the morning; and 'tis difficult for us to retain even that conviction, which we had attain'd with difficulty. View quote
David Hume
Morals excite passions, and produce or prevent actions. Reason of itself is utterly impotent in this particular. The rules of morality, therefore, are not conclusions of our reason. View quote
David Hume
The most perfect philosophy of the natural kind only staves off our ignorance a little longer: as perhaps the most perfect philosophy of the moral or metaphysical kind serves only to discover larger portions of it. Thus the observation of human blindness and weakness is the result of all philosophy, and meets us at every turn, in spite of our endeavours to elude or avoid it. View quote
David Hume
The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny; flattery to treachery; standing armies to arbitrary government; and the glory of God to the temporal interest of the clergy. View quote
David Hume