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David Hume

David Hume Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous David Hume Quotes

“Vanity is so closely allied to virtue, and to love the fame of laudable actions approaches so near the love of laudable actions for their own sake, that these passions are more capable of mixture than any other kinds of affection; and it is almost impossible to have the latter without some degree of the former.”

KindActionPassionVirtueImpossibleFameDegreesApproachCapableSakeAffectionFormerVanityLatterMixtures
Book:Essays Moral, Political, Literary: Revision of Great Book
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“Where is the reward of virtue? and what recompense has nature provided for such important sacrifices as those of life and fortune, which we must often make to it? O sons of earth! Are ye ignorant of the value of this celestial mistress? And do ye meanly inquire for her portion, when ye observe her genuine beauty?”

ImportantEarthValuesVirtueSacrificeSonFortuneRewardsGenuineIgnorantPortionsMistressCelestialRecompense
Book:Selected essays
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“The great charm of poetry consists in lively pictures of the sublime passions, magnanimity, courage, disdain of fortune; or thoseof the tender affections, love and friendship; which warm the heart, and diffuse over it similar sentiments and emotions.”

HeartPoetryPassionEmotionPoetFortuneAffectionWarmCharmOver ItSentimentsSublimeLivelyDisdainLove And FriendshipMagnanimity
Book:Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects
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“The proper office of religion is to regulate the heart of men, humanize their conduct, infuse the spirit of temperance, order, andobedience; and as its operation is silent, and only enforces the motives of morality and justice, it is in danger of being overlooked, and confounded with these other motives.”

MenHeartSpiritReligionOrderJusticeDangerMoralityOfficeSilentOperationsMotiveTemperanceOverlooked
Book:Dialogues and Natural History of Religion
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“I shall venture to affirm, that there never was a popular religion, which represented the state of departed souls in such a light,as would render it eligible for human kind, that there should be such a state. These fine models of religion are the mere product of philosophy. For as death lies between the eye and the prospect of futurity, that event is so shocking to nature, that it must throw a gloom on all the regions which lie beyond it; and suggest to the generality of mankind the idea of Cerberus and Furies; devils, and torrents of fire and brimstone.”

ShouldHumansKindIdeasSoulStatesPhilosophyLightEyeDeathLyingReligionFireMankindEventsProductsFineModelsDevilMereRegionsAfterlifeVentureShockingFuryGloomDepartedGeneralitiesCerberusDeparted Soul
Book:Dialogues and Natural History of Religion
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“Every disastrous accident alarms us, and sets us on enquiries concerning the principles whence it arose: Apprehensions spring up with regard to futurity: And the mind, sunk into diffidence, terror, and melancholy, has recourse to every method of appeasing those secret intelligent powers, on whom our fortune is supposed entirely to depend.”

MindReligionSecretPrinciplesDependsSpringIntelligentRegardMethodFortuneTerrorAccidentsMelancholyAlarmsApprehensionRecourseEnquiryDiffidence
Book:An inquiry concerning human understanding. A dissertation on the passions. An inquiry concerning the principles of morals. The natural history of religion
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“Reason, in a strict sense, as meaning the judgment of truth and falsehood, can never, of itself, be any motive to the will, and can have no influence but so far as it touches some passion or affection. Abstract relations of ideas are the object of curiosity, not of volition. And matters of fact, where they are neither good nor evil, where they neither excite desire nor aversion, are totally indifferent, and whether known or unknown, whether mistaken or rightly apprehended, cannot be regarded as any motive to action.”

IdeasMatterReasonFactsTruthActionDesirePassionEvilKnownInfluenceObjectsJudgmentRelationCuriosityAffectionJudgementMotiveAbstractFalsehoodIndifferentStrictMistakenMatter Of FactAversionVolitionTruth And Falsehood
Book:A Dissertation on the Passions: The Natural History of Religion : a Critical Edition
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“To invent without scruple a new principle to every new phenomenon, instead of adapting it to the old; to overload our hypothesis with a variety of this kind, are certain proofs that none of these principles is the just one, and that we only desire, by a number of falsehoods, to cover our ignorance of the truth.”

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Book:A Treatise of Human Nature
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“The conduct of a man, who studies philosophy in this careless manner, is more truly sceptical than that of any one, who feeling inhimself an inclination to it, is yet so over-whelm'd with doubts and scruples, as totally to reject it. A true sceptic will be diffident of his philosophical doubts, as well as of his philosophical conviction; and will never refuse any innocent satisfaction, which offers itself, upon account of either of them.”

MenWellsPhilosophyFeelingsStudyDoubtOffersAccountsPhilosophicalSatisfactionRefuseConvictionInnocentRejectsSkepticismInclinationCarelessScruplesSceptic
Book:A Treatise of Human Nature
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“Nothing can be more real, or concern us more, than our own sentiments of pleasure and uneasiness; and if these be favourable to virtue and unfavourable to vice, no more can be requisite to the regulation of our conduct and behavior.”

IfsRealPleasureVirtueBehaviorConcernPhilosophicalVicesSentimentsRegulationUneasiness
Book:A Treatise on Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning Into Moral Subjects; and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
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“The whole is a riddle, an enigma, an inexplicable mystery. Doubt, uncertainty, suspence of judgment appear the only result of ourmost accurate scrutiny, concerning this subject. But such is the frailty of human reason, and such the irresistible contagion of opinion, that even this deliberate doubt could scarcely be upheld; did we not enlarge our view, and opposing one species of superstition to another, set them a quarrelling; while we ourselves, during their fury and contention, happily make our escape into the calm, though obscure, regions of philosophy.”

HumansReasonPhilosophyWholeResultsViewsOpinionDoubtMysterySubjectsJudgmentPhilosophicalSpeciesCalmUncertaintyRegionsSuperstitionsAccurateObscureDeliberateFuryIrresistibleOpposingRiddleScrutinyContentionInexplicableFrailtyEnigmaContagionHuman Reason
Author:David Hume
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“If we confine ourselves to a general and distant reflection on the ills of human life, that can have no effect to prepare us for them. If by close and intense meditation we render them present and intimate to us, that is the true secret for poisoning all our pleasures, and rendering us perpetually miserable.”

IfsLifeHumansDeathEvilPleasureSecretMeditationEffectsReflectionIntenseMiserableHuman LifeIntimateLife DeathPoisoningRenderingMiserable Life
Book:Delphi Complete Works of David Hume (Illustrated)
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“On the theory of the soul's mortality, the inferiority of women's capacity is easily accounted for: Their domestic life requires no higher faculties either of mind or body. This circumstance vanishes and becomes absolutely insignificant, on the religious theory: The one sex has an equal task to perform as the other: Their powers of reason and resolution ought also to have been equal, and both of them infinitely greater than at present.”

MindHas BeensSoulReasonBodySexWomenReligiousGreaterTheoryOughtHigherCircumstancesEqualCapacityTasksFacultyResolutionMortalityInsignificantInferiorityDomestic Life
Book:Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (Second Edition)
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