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David Hume

David Hume Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous David Hume Quotes

“the senses alone are not implicitly to be depended on. We must correct their evidence by reason, and by considerations, derived from the nature of the medium, the distance of the object, and the disposition of the organ, in order to render them, within their sphere, the proper criteria of truth and falsehood.”

ReasonOrderObjectsEvidenceDistanceSensesMediumsConsiderationSpheresOrgansFalsehoodMetaphysicsDispositionCriteriaTruth And Falsehood
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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“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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“Nothing more powerfully excites any affection than to conceal some part of its object, by throwing it into a kind of shade, whichat the same time that it shows enough to prepossess us in favour of the object, leaves still some work for the imagination.”

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Book:A Dissertation on the Passions: The Natural History of Religion : a Critical Edition
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“Upon the whole, necessity is something, that exists in the mind, not in objects; nor is it possible for us ever to form the most distant idea of it, consider'd as a quality in bodies. Either we have no idea of necessity, or necessity is nothing but that determination of thought to pass from cause to effects and effects to causes, according to their experienc'd union.”

MindIdeasWholeBodyFormCausesQualityEffectsObjectsDeterminationUnionsNo Idea
Book:A Treatise of Human Nature
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“When I think of God, when I think of him as existent, and when I believe him to be existent, my idea of him neither increases nordiminishes. But as it is certain there is a great difference betwixt the simple conception of the existence of an object, and the belief of it, and as this difference lies not in the parts or composition of the idea which we conceive; it follows, that it must lie in the manner in which we conceive it.”

ThinkingBelieveIdeasGodLyingCertainBeliefI BelieveDifferencesSimpleExistenceObjectsIncreaseConceptionCompositionBelief In God
Book:A Treatise of Human Nature
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“There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice or good-will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us.”

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Book:The Natural History of Religion
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“Luxury, or a refinement on the pleasures and conveniences of life, had long been supposed the source of every corruption in government, and the immediate cause of faction, sedition, civil wars, and the total loss of liberty. It was, therefore, universally regarded as a vice, and was an object of declamation to all satyrists, and severe moralists.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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“When we reflect on our past sentiments and affections, our thought is a faithful mirror, and copies its objects truly; but the colours which it employs are faint and dull, in comparison of those in which our original perceptions were clothed.”

PastObjectsPerceptionMirrorsOriginalsAffectionFaithfulColourDullComparisonCopiesSentimentsOur ThoughtsOur Past
Book:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding; [with] A Letter from a Gentleman to His Friend in Edinburgh; [and] An Abstract of a Treatise of Human Nature
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“When the coherence of the parts of a stone, or even that composition of parts which renders it extended; when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, and contain circumstances so repugnant and contradictory; with what assurance can we decide concerning the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?”

WorldObjectsCircumstancesStonesEternityFamiliarCompositionAssuranceContradictoryInexplicableCoherence
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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“The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness. For this were arts invented, sciences cultivated, laws ordained, and societies modeled, by the most profound wisdom of patriots and legislators. Even the lonely savage, who lies exposed to the inclemency of the elements and the fury of wild beasts, forgets not, for a moment, this grand object of his being.”

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Book:Delphi Complete Works of David Hume (Illustrated)
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“Tis evident that all reasonings concerning matter of fact are founded on the relation of cause and effect, and that we can never infer the existence of one object from another, unless they be connected together, either mediately or immediately... Here is a billiard ball lying on the table, and another ball moving toward it with rapidity. They strike; and the ball which was formerly at rest now acquires a motion. This is as perfect an instance of the relation of cause and effect as any which we know, either by sensation or reflection.”

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Author:David Hume
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“It seems to me, that the only Objects of the abstract Sciences or of Demonstration is Quantity and Number, and that all Attempts to extend this more perfect Species of Knowledge beyond these Bounds are mere Sophistry and Illusion.”

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Book:Delphi Complete Works of David Hume (Illustrated)
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“We have no other notion of cause and effect, but that of certain objects, which have always conjoin'd together, and which in all past instances have been found inseparable. We cannot penetrate into the reason of the conjunction. We only observe the thing itself, and always find that from the constant conjunction the objects acquire an union in the imagination.”

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Author:David Hume
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