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David Hume

David Hume Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous David Hume Quotes

“Let us consider what we call vicious luxury. No gratification, however sensual, can of itself be esteemed vicious. A gratification is only vicious when it engrosses all a man's expense, and leaves no ability for such acts of duty and generosity as are required by his situation and fortune. The same care and toil that raise a dish of peas at Christmas would give bread to a whole family during six months.”

MenGivingWholeCareAbilitySituationDutyMonthsSixRaisesFortuneBreadLuxurySensualGenerosityExpensesDishesToilViciousSix MonthsGratificationWhole FamilyPeas
Book:Selected essays
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“of the world and drudgery of business , seeks a pretense of reason to give itself a full and uncontrolled indulgence.”

WorldGivingReasonIndulgencePretenseDrudgery
Book:The Empiricists: Locke: Concerning Human Understanding; Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge & 3 Dialogues; Hume: Concerning Human Understanding & Concerning Natural Religio
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“Were a stranger to drop on a sudden into this world, I would show him, as a specimen of its ills, a hospital full of diseases, a prison crowded with malefactors and debtors, a field of battle strewed with carcasses, a fleet foundering in the ocean, a nation languishing under tyranny, famine, or pestilence. To turn the gay side of life to him, and give him a notion of its pleasures; whither should I conduct him? to a ball, to an opera, to court? He might justly think, that I was only showing him a diversity of distress and sorrow.”

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Book:Delphi Complete Works of David Hume (Illustrated)
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“I say then, that 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. This variety of terms, which may seem so unphilosophical, is intended only to express that act of the mind, which renders realities, or what is taken for such, more present to us than fictions, causes them to weigh more in the thought, and gives them a superior influence on the passions and imagination.”

GivingMindMayRealitySeemsAblePassionBeliefCausesTermImaginationFictionTakenAtheismInfluenceObjectsPositive AtheismSuperiorsVarietyFirmConceptionSteadyVividLively
Book:Essays and Treatises on several subjects, etc. New edition
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“Accurate and just reasoning is the only catholic remedy, fitted for all persons and all dispositions; and is alone able to subvert that abstruse philosophy and metaphysical jargon, which, being mixed up with popular superstition, renders it in a manner impenetrable to careless reasoners, and gives it the air of science and wisdom.”

GivingPersonsReasonPhilosophyAbleAirCatholicReasoningSuperstitionsAccurateRemedyDispositionMetaphysicalCarelessJargon
Book:The Philosophical Works of David Hume: Including All the Essays, and Exhibiting the More Important Alterations and Corrections in the Successive Editions Pub. by the Author
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“When I am convinced of any principle, it is only an idea which strikes more strongly upon me. When I give the preference to one set of arguments above another, I do nothing but decide from my feeling concerning the superiority of their influence.”

GivingIdeasFeelingsBeliefPrinciplesInfluenceArgumentConvincedStrikesSuperiorityPreference
Book:A Treatise of Human Nature: Top Philosophy Collections
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“We can conceive a thinking being to have either many or few perceptions. Suppose the mind to be reduced even below the life of anoyster. Suppose it to have only one perception, as of thirst or hunger. Consider it in that situation. Do you conceive any thing but merely that perception? Have you any notion of self or substance? If not, the addition of other perceptions can never give you that notion.”

IfsThinkingGivingMindSelfSituationPerceptionNotionHungerSubstanceThirstOysters
Book:A Treatise of Human Nature: Illustrated
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“To consider the matter aright, reason is nothing but a wonderful and unintelligible instinct in our souls, which carries us along a certain train of ideas, and endows them with particular qualities, according to their particular situations and relations. This instinct, 'tis true, arises from past observation and experience; but can anyone give the ultimate reason, why past experience and observation produces such an effect, any more than why nature alone should produce it?”

GivingShouldIdeasSoulMatterReasonPastScienceCertainNatureQualitySituationWonderfulEffectsProduceParticularUltimateRelationTrainInstinctAriseObservationReason WhyCarriePast Experiences
Book:A Treatise of Human Nature
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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.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: Revision of Great Book
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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.”

GivingFeelsMindHumansMayArtOrderMoralInfluenceMoralityDemandIntellectualReflectionEthicsArgumentSpeciesReasoningLatterFacultySentimentsHuman MindAssistanceSuitableRelish
Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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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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