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Quote by David Hume

Work

The Empiricists: Locke: Concerning Human Understanding; Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge & 3 Dialogues; Hume: Concerning Human Understanding & Concerning Natural Religio

This book compiles key philosophical texts by three prominent Enlightenment thinkers. John Locke's 'Concerning Human Understanding' explores the nature of human knowledge and the mind. George Berkeley's 'Principles of Human Knowledge' and '3 Dialogues' delve into idealism and the nature of reality. David Hume's contributions include 'Concerning Human Understanding' and 'Concerning Natural Religion', which examine skepticism and the origins of religious belief. more

Author

David Hume
David Hume

David Hume, born on May 7, 1711, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and died on August 25, 1776, was an outstanding philosopher, historian, and economist. Known for his contributions to empiricism and skepticism, his works have had a profound impact on subsequent philosophy, economics, and psychology. more

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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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“Methinks I am like a man, who having struck on many shoals, and having narrowly escap'd shipwreck in passing a small frith, has yet the temerity to put out to sea in the same leaky weather-beaten vessel, and even carries his ambition so far as to think of compassing the globe under these disadvantageous circumstances.”

ThinkingMenSeaCircumstancesAmbitionPassingPassingsWeatherCarrieGlobesBeatenVesselShipwreck
Book:A Treatise of Human Nature: Revision of Great Book
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“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.”

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Book:A Treatise of Human Nature: Top Philosophy Collections
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“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.”

ReasonActionPassionMoralProduceParticularMoralityConclusion
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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“Though experience be our only guide in reasoning concerning matters of fact; it must be acknowledged, that this guide is not altogether infallible, but in some cases is apt to lead us into errors.”

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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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“Eloquence, when at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection; but addressing itself entirely to the fancy or the affections, captivates the willing hearers, and subdues their understanding. Happily, this pitch it seldom attains. But what a Tully or a Demosthenes could scarcely effect over a Roman or Athenian audience, every Capuchin, every itinerant or stationary teacher can perform over the generality of mankind, and in a higher degree, by touching such gross and vulgar passions.”

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Book:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
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“In all ages of the world, priests have been enemies to liberty; and it is certain, that this steady conduct of theirs must have been founded on fixed reasons of interest and ambition. Liberty of thinking, and of expressing our thoughts, is always fatal to priestly power, and to those pious frauds, on which it is commonly founded; and, by an infallible connexion, which prevails among all kinds of liberty, this privilege can never be enjoyed, at least has never yet been enjoyed, but in a free government.”

ThinkingWorldKindHas BeensReasonGovernmentAgeCertainInterestLibertyEnemyAmbitionPrivilegeAll KindsEnjoyedFixedPriestsFraudSteadyOur ThoughtsPiousInfallibleFree GovernmentConnexion
Book:Essays Moral, Political, Literary: Revision of Great Book
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“The slaving Poor are incapable of any Principles: Gentlemen may be converted to true Principles, by Time and Experience. The middling Rank of Men have Curiosity and Knowledge enough to form Principles, but not enough to form true ones, or correct any Prejudices that they may have imbib'd: And 'tis among the middling Rank, that Tory Principles do at present prevail most in England.”

MenMayEnoughFormPoorPrinciplesPrejudiceEnglandCuriosityGentlemanIncapableTrue Ones
Book:The philosophical works of David Hume
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“Avarice, the spur of industry, is so obstinate a passion, and works its way through so many real dangers and difficulties, that it is not likely to be scared by an imaginary danger, which is so small, that it scarcely admits of calculation. Commerce, therefore, in my opinion, is apt to decay in absolute governments, not because it is there less secure, but because it is less honourable.”

WayRealGovernmentPassionOpinionDangerIndustryDifficultyAbsolutesScaredSecureImaginaryDecayCommerceCalculationsAvariceSpursObstinate
Author:David Hume
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