.. the voice of nature and experience seems plainly to oppose the selfish theory. — David Hume Copy Share Image
It is still open for me, as well as you, to regulate my behavior, by my experience of past events. — David Hume Copy Share Image
If morality had naturally no influence on human passions and actions, it were in vain to take such pains to inculcate it;… — David Hume Copy Share Image
If God is omnipotent, omniscient and wholly good, whence evil? If God wills to prevent evil but cannot, then He is not… — David Hume Copy Share Image
.. that a rule, which, in speculation, may seem the most advantageous to society, may yet be found, in practice, totally pernicious… — David Hume Copy Share Image
Disbelief in futurity loosens in a great measure the ties of morality, and may be for that reason pernicious to the peace… — David Hume Copy Share Image
The end of all moral speculations is to teach us our duty; and, by proper representations of the deformity of vice and… — David Hume Copy Share Image
Morals excite passions, and produce or prevent actions. Reason of itself is utterly impotent in this particular. The rules of morality, therefore,… — David Hume Copy Share Image
But in many orders of beauty, particularly those of the finer arts, it is requisite to employ much reasoning, in order to… — David Hume Copy Share Image
All morality depends upon our sentiments; and when any action or quality of the mind pleases us after a certain manner we… — David Hume Copy Share Image
.. that which renders morality an active principle and constitutes virtue our happiness, and vice our misery: it is probable, I say,… — David Hume Copy Share Image
These arguments on each side (and many more might be produced) are so plausible, that I am apt to suspect, they may,… — David Hume Copy Share Image
It seems then, say I, that you leave politics entirely out of the question, and never suppose, that a wise magistrate can… — David Hume Copy Share Image
We may conclude, therefore, that, in order to establish laws for the regulation of property, we must be acquainted with the nature… — David Hume Copy Share Image
From the apparent usefulness of the social virtues, it has readily been inferred by sceptics, both ancient and modern, that all moral… — David Hume Copy Share Image
He sees such a desperate rapaciousness prevail; such a disregard to equity, such contempt of order, such stupid blindness to future consequences,… — David Hume Copy Share Image
In all determinations of morality, this circumstance of public utility is ever principally in view; and wherever disputes arise, either in philosophy… — David Hume Copy Share Image
There has been a controversy started of late, much better worth examination, concerning the general foundation of Morals; whether they be derived… — David Hume Copy Share Image
But, historians, and even common sense, may inform us, that, however specious these ideas of perfect equality may seem, they are really,… — David Hume Copy Share Image
“There is no method of reasoning more common, and yet none more blameable, than, in philosophical disputes, to endeavour the refutation of… — David Hume Copy Share Image
Truth is disputable; not taste: what exists in the nature of things is the standard of our judgement; what each man feels… — David Hume Copy Share Image
We may observe that, in displaying the praises of any humane, beneficent man, there is one circumstance which never fails to be… — David Hume Copy Share Image
If the contemplation, even of inanimate beauty, is so delightful; if it ravishes the senses, even when the fair form is foreign… — David Hume Copy Share Image
The proper office of religion is to regulate the heart of men, humanize their conduct, infuse the spirit of temperance, order, andobedience;… — David Hume Copy Share Image
How could politics be a science, if laws and forms of government had not a uniform influence upon society? Where would be… — David Hume Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
All morality depends upon our sentiments; and when any action or quality of the mind pleases us after a certain manner we say it… — David Hume Copy Share Image
And indeed nothing but the most determined scepticism, along with a great degree of indolence, can justify this aversion to metaphysics. For if truth… — David Hume Copy Share Image
...virtue is attended by more peace of mind than vice, and meets with a more favourable reception from the world. I am sensible, that,… — David Hume Copy Share Image
That the sun will not rise tomorrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction, than the affirmation, that it will… — David Hume Copy Share Image
We may conclude, therefore, that, in order to establish laws for the regulation of property, we must be acquainted with the nature and situation… — David Hume Copy Share Image
The observation of human blindness and weakness is the result of all philosophy, and meets us at every turn, in spite of our endeavours… — David Hume Copy Share Image
The religious hypothesis, therefore, must be considered only as a particular method of accounting for the visible phenomena of the universe: but no just… — David Hume Copy Share Image
Manufacturers...gradually shift their places, leaving those countries and provinces which they have already enriched, and flying to others, whether they are allured by the… — David Hume Copy Share Image
We may observe that, in displaying the praises of any humane, beneficent man, there is one circumstance which never fails to be amply insisted… — David Hume Copy Share Image
“The most perfect happiness, surely, must arise from the contemplation of the most perfect object.” — David Hume Copy Share Image
