Home > Author > David Hume

David Hume QUOTES

David Hume QUOTES

1 " Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous. "

― David Hume , A Treatise of Human Nature

2 " Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions. "

― David Hume

3 " Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them. "

― David Hume , A Treatise of Human Nature

4 " It is impossible for us to think of any thing, which we have not antecedently felt, either by our external or internal senses. "

― David Hume , An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

5 " No man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping. "

― David Hume , On Suicide

6 " It is an absurdity to believe that the Deity has human passions, and one of the lowest of human passions, a restless appetite for applause "

― David Hume

7 " When anyone tells me that he saw a dead man restored to life, I immediately consider with myself whether it be more probable that this person should either deceive or be deceived or that the fact which he relates should really have happened. I weigh the one miracle against the other and according to the superiority which I discover, I pronounce my decision. Always I reject the greater miracle. If the falsehood of his testimony would be more miraculous than the event which he relates, then and not till then, can he pretend to command my belief or opinion. "

― David Hume

8 " As every inquiry which regards religion is of the utmost importance, there are two questions in particular which challenge our attention, to wit, that concerning its foundation in reason, and that concerning it origin in human nature. "

― David Hume , The Natural History of Religion

9 " To be a philosophical Sceptic is the first and most essential step towards being a sound, believing Christian. "

― David Hume , Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and The Natural History of Religion

10 " Here then we are first to consider a book, presented to us by a barbarous and ignorant people, written in an age when they were still more barbarous, and in all probability long after the facts which it relates, corroborated by no concurring testimony, and resembling those fabulous accounts, which every nation gives of its origin. "

― David Hume , An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

11 " How can we satisfy ourselves without going on in infinitum? And, after all, what satisfaction is there in that infinite progression? Let us remember the story of the Indian philosopher and his elephant. It was never more applicable than to the present subject. If the material world rests upon a similar ideal world, this ideal world must rest upon some other; and so on, without end. It were better, therefore, never to look beyond the present material world. "

― David Hume , Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

12 " Liberty of any kind is never lost all at once. "

― David Hume

13 " Explanation is where the mind rests. "

― David Hume

14 " Indulge your passion for science…but let your science be human, and such as may have a direct reference to action and society. Be a philosopher; but amidst all your philosophy, be still a man. "

― David Hume , An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

15 " Does a man of sense run after every silly tale of hobgoblins or fairies, and canvass particularly the evidence? I never knew anyone, that examined and deliberated about nonsense who did not believe it before the end of his enquiries. "

― David Hume ,

16 " A man who has cured himself of all ridiculous prepossessions, and is fully, sincerely, and steadily convinced, from experience as well as philosophy, that the difference of fortune makes less difference in happiness than is vulgarly imagined; such a one does not measure out degrees of esteem according to the rent-rolls of his acquaintance. He may, indeed, externally pay a superior deference to the great lord above the vassal; because riches are the most convenient, being the most fixed and determinate, source of distinction. But his internal sentiments are more regulated by the personal characters of men, than by the accidental and capricious favours of fortune. "

― David Hume , An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

17 " When suicide is out of fashion we conclude that none but madmen destroy themselves; and all the efforts of courage appear chimerical to dastardly minds ... Nevertheless, how many instances are there, well attested, of men, in every other respect perfectly discreet, who, without remorse, rage, or despair, have quitted life for no other reason than because it was a burden to them, and have died with more composure than they lived? "

― David Hume , On Suicide

18 " If my life be not my own, it were criminal for me to put it in danger, as well as to dispose of it; nor could one man deserve the appellation of hero, whom glory or friendship transports into the greatest dangers, and another merit the reproach of wretch or misereant who puts a period to his life, from the same or like motives. "

― David Hume , On Suicide

19 " Nothing is more usual than for philosophers to encroach upon the province of grammarians; and to engage in disputes of words, while they imagine that they are handling controversies of the deepest importance and concern. "

― David Hume , An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

20 " Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man. "

― David Hume , An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding