An established government has an infinite advantage, by that very circumstance of its being established--the bulk of mankind being governed by authority,… — David Hume Copy Share Image
Let us become thoroughly sensible of the weakness, blindness, and narrow limits of human reason: Let us duly consider its uncertainty and… — David Hume Copy Share Image
Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to… — David Hume Copy Share Image
As every inquiry which regards religion is of the utmost importance, there are two questions in particular which challenge our attention, to… — David Hume Copy Share Image
It is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger. It is… — 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
“So that, upon the whole, we may conclude, that the Christian Religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even… — David Hume Copy Share Image
Reason, in a strict sense, as meaning the judgment of truth and falsehood, can never, of itself, be any motive to the… — David Hume Copy Share Image
In all ages of the world, priests have been enemies to liberty; and it is certain, that this steady conduct of theirs… — 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
It is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger. — David Hume Copy Share Image
Nothing is more dangerous to reason than the flights of the imagination and nothing has been the occasion of more mistakes among… — 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
the senses alone are not implicitly to be depended on. We must correct their evidence by reason, and by considerations, derived from… — David Hume Copy Share Image
To consider the matter aright, reason is nothing but a wonderful and unintelligible instinct in our souls, which carries us along a… — David Hume Copy Share Image
On the theory of the soul's mortality, the inferiority of women's capacity is easily accounted for: Their domestic life requires no higher… — 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
“A body of ten ounces raised in any scale may serve as a proof, that the counterbalancing weight exceeds ten ounces; but… — David Hume Copy Share Image
It must appear impossible, that theism could, from reasoning, have been the primary religion of human race, and have afterwards, by its… — David Hume Copy Share Image
Tis evident that all reasonings concerning matter of fact are founded on the relation of cause and effect, and that we can… — David Hume Copy Share Image
We have no other notion of cause and effect, but that of certain objects, which have always conjoin'd together, and which in… — David Hume Copy Share Image
It seems certain, that though a man, in a flush of humour, after intense reflection on the many contradictions and imperfections of… — David Hume Copy Share Image
Any person seasoned with a just sense of the imperfections of natural reason, will fly to revealed truth with the greatest avidity. — 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
“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
