Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.
Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.
No man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping.
Reading and sauntering and lounging and dosing, which I call thinking, is my supreme Happiness.
Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.
He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper, but he is more excellent who can suit his temper to his circumstance.
The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.
The truth springs from arguments amongst friends.
Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.
When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities.
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
…no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact, which it endeavors to establish.
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.
Liberty of any kind is never lost all at once.
Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them
To be a philosophical Sceptic is the first and most essential step towards being a sound, believing Christian.
Any pride or haughtiness, is displeasing to us, merely because it shocks our own pride, and leads us by sympathy into comparison, which causes the disagreeable passion of humility.
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.
The identity that we ascribe to things is only a fictitious one, established by the mind, not a peculiar nature belonging to what we’re talking about.
The feelings of our heart, the agitation of our passions, the vehemence of our affections, dissipate all its conclusions, and reduce the profound philosopher to a mere plebeian
The fact that different cultures have different practices no more refutes [moral] objectivism than the fact that water flows in different directions in different places refutes the law of gravity
A purpose, an intention, a design, strikes everywhere even the careless, the most stupid thinker.
A wise man apportions his beliefs to the evidence.
In public affairs men are often better pleased that the truth, though known to everybody, should be wrapped up under a decent cover than if it were exposed in open daylight to the eyes of all the world.
To philosopher and historian the madness and imbecile wickedness of mankind ought to appear ordinary events.
Beauty in things exists in the mind that contemplates them.
It is possible for the same thing both to be and not to be.
Carelessness and in-attention alone can afford us any remedy. For this reason I rely entirely upon them.
Tis not unreasonable for me to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.
The bigotry of theologians [is] a malady which seems almost incurable.
Be a philosopher, but amid all your philosophy be still a man.
The Crusades – the most signal and most durable monument of human folly that has yet appeared in any age or nation.
Men’s views of things are the result of their understanding alone. Their conduct is regulated by their understanding, their temper, and their passions.
It’s seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.
Beauty in things exits merely in the mind which contemplates them.
[T]he Old Testament, […] if considered as a general rule of conduct, would lead to consequences destructive of all principles of humanity and morality.
No conclusion can be more agreable to scepticism than such as make discoveries concerning the weakness and narrow limites of human reason and capacity
The most lively thought is still inferior to the dullest sensation
The essential passions of the heart have found a better soil in which it may attain it’s maturity; remain under less restraint and extended into it’s natural state
Thomas Hobbes’s politics are fitted only to promote tyranny, and his ethics to encourage licentiousness.
[I]f subjects must never resist, it follows that every prince, without any effort, policy, or violence, is at once rendered absolute and uncontrollable;
When principles are so absurd and so destructive of human society, it may safely be averred, that the more sincere and the more disinterested they are, they only become the more ridiculous and the more odious.
[R]evolutions of government cannot be effected by the mere force of argument and reasoning;
I never knew anyone, that examined and deliberated about nonsense, who did not believe it before the end of his enquiries.
[A] planet, wholly inhabited by spiders, (which is very possible)
The virtues of valor and love of liberty; the only virtues which can have place among an uncivilized people, where justice and humanity are commonly neglected.
The more instances we examine, and the more care we employ, the more assurance shall we acquire, that the enumeration, which we form from the whole, is complete and entire.
Beyond the constant conjunction of similar objects, and the consequent inference from one to the other, we have no notion of any necessity, or connexion.
It is, therefore, a just political maxim, that every man must be supposed a knave.
(On belief in miracles) – “The gazing populace receive greedily, without examination, whatever soothes superstition and promotes wonder.
Scepticism may be theoretically irrefutable, but even the sceptic must ‘act … and live, and converse, like other men’, since human nature gives him no choice.David Hume Quotes On Life
Here are some of the best David Hume quotes on life and its experiences.
1. “A propensity to hope and joy is real riches; one to fear and sorrow, real poverty.”
― David Hume.
2. “Reading and sauntering and lounging and dosing, which I call thinking, is my supreme happiness.”
― David Hume.
3. “But the life of a man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.”
― David Hume.
4. “A purpose, an intention, a design, strikes everywhere even the careless, the most stupid thinker.”
― David Hume.
5. “The truth springs from arguments amongst friends.”
― David Hume.
6. “When we reflect on the shortness and uncertainty of life, how despicable seem all our pursuits of happiness.”
― David Hume.
7. “The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny.”
― David Hume.
8. “Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principals.”
― David Hume.
9. “Let these generous sentiments be supposed ever so weak; let them be insufficient to move even a hand or finger of our body.”
― David Hume.
10. “The greater part of mankind may be divided into two classes; that of shallow thinkers who fall short of the truth; and that of abstruse thinkers who go beyond it.”
― David Hume.
11. “It is to restrain [others’] selfishness that men… distinguish between their own goods and those of others.”
― David Hume.
12. “When the critic has no delicacy, he judges without any distinction, and is only affected by the grosser and more palpable qualities of the object.”
― David Hume.
