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David Hume

David Hume Quotes

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Famous David Hume Quotes

“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.”

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Book:The Philosophical Works of David Hume ... Containing Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Essays on the Immortality of the Soul, Suicide ... &c. A New Edition
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“No quality of human nature is more remarkable, both in itself and in its consequences, than that propensity we have to sympathize with others, and to receive by communication their inclinations and sentiments, however different from, or even contrary to our own.”

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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 minds of men are mirrors to one another, not only because they reflect each other's emotions, but also because those rays of passions, sentiments and opinions may be often reverberated, and may decay away by insensible degrees.”

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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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“But there still prevails, even in nations well acquainted with commerce, a strong jealousy with regard to the balance of trade, and a fear, that all their gold and silver may be leaving them. This seems to me, almost in every case, a groundless apprehension; and I should as soon dread, that all our springs and rivers should be exhausted, as that money should abandon a kingdom where there are people and industry.”

PeopleShouldWellsMayStillsSeemsStrongNationsCasesIndustryBalanceSpringRiversGoldRegardTradeLeavingKingdomsSilverAbandonDreadCommerceExhaustedApprehensionImbalanceGold And Silver
Book:Essays Moral, Political, Literary: Revision of Great Book
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“From the apparent usefulness of the social virtues, it has readily been inferred by sceptics, both ancient and modern, that all moral distinctions arise from education, and were, at first, invented, and afterwards encouraged ... in order to render men tractable, and subdue their natural ferocity and selfishness, which incapacitated them for society.”

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Book:An Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“There has been a controversy started of late, much better worth examination, concerning the general foundation of Morals; whether they be derived from Reason, or from Sentiment; whether we attain the knowledge of them by a chain of argument and induction, or by an immediate feeling and finer internal sense; whether, like all sound judgement of truth and falsehood, they should be the same to every rational intelligent being; or whether, like the perception of beauty and deformity, they be founded entirely on the particular fabric and constitution of the human species.”

ShouldHumansHas BeensReasonFeelingsSoundMoralParticularMoralityLatePerceptionEthicsArgumentConstitutionIntelligentFoundationSpeciesRationalChainsJudgementInternalsSentimentsFalsehoodFabricControversyExaminationHuman SpeciesDeformityTruth And FalsehoodPerception Of BeautySound Judgement
Author:David Hume
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“Truth is disputable; not taste: what exists in the nature of things is the standard of our judgement; what each man feels within himself is the standard of sentiment. Propositions in geometry may be proved, systems in physics may be controverted; but the harmony of verse, the tenderness of passion, the brilliancy of wit, must give immediate pleasure. No man reasons concerning another's beauty; but frequently concerning the justice or injustice of his actions.”

MenGivingFeelsMayReasonActionPassionJusticePleasureMoralityTasteTruth IsStandardsEthicsHarmonyInjusticePhysicsWitJudgementSentimentsTendernessVersesPropositionsGeometry
Book:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: Revision of Great Book
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“These arguments on each side (and many more might be produced) are so plausible, that I am apt to suspect, they may, the one as well as the other, be solid and satisfactory, and that reason and sentiment concur in almost all moral determinations and conclusions.”

WellsMayReasonMightSidesMoralMoralityEthicsDeterminationArgumentConclusionSuspectsSentimentsPlausibleConcur
Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“.. that which renders morality an active principle and constitutes virtue our happiness, and vice our misery: it is probable, I say, that this final sentence depends on some internal sense or feeling, which nature has made universal in the whole species.”

MadeWholeFeelingsPrinciplesVirtueDependsMoralityEthicsUniversalMiserySpeciesFinalsVicesActiveSentencesInternals
Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals: A Critical Edition
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“But in many orders of beauty, particularly those of the finer arts, it is requisite to employ much reasoning, in order to feel the proper sentiment; and a false relish may frequently be corrected by argument and reflection. There are just grounds to conclude, that moral beauty partakes of this latter species, and demands the assistance of our intellectual faculties, in order to give it a suitable influence on the human mind.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“We may observe that, in displaying the praises of any humane, beneficent man, there is one circumstance which never fails to be amply insisted on, namely, the happiness and satisfaction, derived to society from his intercourse and good offices.”

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Book:And the human understanding. An inquiry concerning the principles of morals. Appendix. The natural history of religion
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“In all determinations of morality, this circumstance of public utility is ever principally in view; and wherever disputes arise, either in philosophy or common life, concerning the bounds of duty, the questions cannot, by any means, be decided with greater certainty, than by ascertaining, on any side, the true interests of mankind. If any false opinion, embraced from appearances, has been found to prevail; as soon as farther experience and sounder reasoning have given us juster notions of human affairs, we retract our first sentiment, and adjust anew the boundaries of moral good and evil.”

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Book:Moral and Political Philosophy
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“He sees such a desperate rapaciousness prevail; such a disregard to equity, such contempt of order, such stupid blindness to future consequences, as must immediately have the most tragical conclusion, and most terminate in destruction to the greater number, and in a total dissolution of society to the rest.”

OrderNumbersGreaterStupidMoralityEthicsConsequenceDestructionConclusionDesperateContemptBlindnessEquityDisregardDissolution
Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“But, historians, and even common sense, may inform us, that, however specious these ideas of perfect equality may seem, they are really, at bottom, impracticable; and were they not so, would be extremely pernicious to human society. Render possessions ever so equal, men's different degrees of art, care, and industry will immediately break that equality. Or if you check these virtues, you reduce society to the most extreme indigence; and instead of preventing want and beggary in a few, render it unavoidable to the whole community.”

IfsMenWantHumansMayArtIdeasDifferentWholeSeemsWould BeCareCommunityPerfectCommonBreakVirtueIndustryMoralityEqualDegreesEthicsBottomPossessionExtremesChecksCommon SenseHistorianPreventingHuman SocietyPerniciousBeggary
Book:Essays and Treatises on Philosophical Subjects
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“We may conclude, therefore, that, in order to establish laws for the regulation of property, we must be acquainted with the nature and situation of man; must reject appearances, which may be false, though specious; and must search for those rules, which are, on the whole, most useful and beneficial.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“... if you insist that the inference is made by a chain of reasoning, I desire you to produce that reasoning. The connection between the two is not intuitive. There is required a medium, which may enable the mind to draw such an inference, if indeed it be drawn by reasoning and argument. What that medium is, I must confess, passes my comprehension; and it is incumbent on those to produce it, who assert that it really exists, and is the origin of all our conclusions concerning matter of fact.”

IfsMindMayMadeTwoMatterFactsDesireProduceWords Of WisdomDrawsArgumentConnectionsMediumsConclusionChainsReasoningIntuitiveComprehensionMatter Of FactIncumbentsInference
Book:Delphi Complete Works of David Hume (Illustrated)
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“..all arguments concerning existence are founded on the relation of cause and effect; that our knowledge of that relation is derived entirely from experience; and all our experimental conclusions proceed upon the supposition that the future will be conformable to the past. .... Without the influence of custom, we should be entirely ignorant of every matter of fact beyond what is immediately present to the memory and senses.”

ShouldMatterFactsPastCausesMemoriesExistenceInfluenceEffectsWords Of WisdomArgumentRelationSensesIgnorantConclusionCustomsCause And EffectMatter Of FactSupposition
Author:David Hume
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“And as this is the obvious appearance of things, it must be admitted, till some hypothesis be discovered, which by penetrating deeper into human nature, may prove the former affections to be nothing but modifications of the latter. All attempts of this kind have hitherto proved fruitless, and seem to have proceeded entirely from that love of simplicity which has been the source of much false reasoning in philosophy.”

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Book:Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects
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“The difference between a man who is led by opinion or emotion and one who is led by reason. The former, whether he will or not, performs things of which he is entirely ignorant; the latter is subordinate to no one, and only does those things which he knows to be of primary importance in his life, and which on that account he desires the most; and therefore I call the former a slave, but the latter free.”

KnowsMenDoeReasonDesireDifferencesEmotionOpinionWords Of WisdomAccountsImportanceSlaveIgnorantFormerPrimariesLatterSubordinates
Author:David Hume
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“It is a great mortification to the vanity of man, that his utmost art and industry can never equal the meanest of nature's productions, either for beauty or value. Art is only the under-workman, and is employed to give a few strokes of embellishment to those pieces, which come from the hand of the master.”

MenGivingArtHandsValuesNaturePiecesMastersIndustryEqualArt IsProductionsVanityStrokesEmployedWorkmenMortificationEmbellishment
Book:Essays and treatises on several subjects: essays, moral, political and literary
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“The mind is a kind of theater, where several perceptions successively make their appearence; pass, re-pass, glide away, and mingle in an infinite variety of postures and situations.”

MindKindSituationPerceptionTheaterInfinitePhilosopherVarietyPosture
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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“Among well bred people a mutual deference is affected, contempt for others is disguised; authority concealed; attention given to each in his turn; and an easy stream of conversation maintained without vehemence, without interruption, without eagerness for victory, and without any airs of superiority.”

PeopleWellsTurnsGivenEasyAttentionAirVictoryConversationAuthorityMannersStreamsMutualAffectedContemptSuperiorityPoliteConcealedInterruptionsEagernessDeferenceVehemence
Book:Essays, Literary, Moral, and Political
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“I may venture to affirm the rest of mankind, that they are nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement.”

MayDifferentMankindMovementSucceedPerceptionCollectionsPerpetualVentureBundlesFluxDifferent Perceptions
Book:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: And Selections from a Treatise of Human Nature
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