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Religion Quotes by David Hume

43 Religion quotes by David Hume

All Religion quotes David Hume’s page

David Hume treats religion like a tool people use to explain what they see in the world. He warns that religious claims can hide selfish motives and even cause unhappiness. He also says the proper job of religion is to teach people temperance, order, and obedience, not just to dictate belief.

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I do not have enough faith to believe there is no god.

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The bigotry of theologians is a malady which seems almost incurable.

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When I hear that a man is religious, I conclude he is a rascal!

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God is an ever-present spirit guiding all that happens to a wise and holy end.

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A little philosophy makes a man an Atheist: a great deal converts him to religion

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Superstition is an enemy to civil liberty.

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“[A] planet, wholly inhabited by spiders, (which is very possible)”

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The ages of greatest public spirit are not always eminent for private virtue.

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The Christian religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable…

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“Where men are heated by zeal and enthusiasm, there is no degree of human testimony so strong as may not be procured…

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The first ideas of religion arose, not from contemplation of the works of nature, but from a concern with regard to the…

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Barbarity, caprice; these qualities, however nominally disguised, we may universally observe from the ruling character of the deity in all regular religions.

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[priests are] the pretenders to power and dominion, and to a superior sanctity of character, distinct from virtue and good morals.

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No human testimony can have such force as to prove a miracle, and make it a just foundation for any such system…

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Examine the religious principles which have, in fact, prevailed in the world, and you will scarcely be persuaded that they are anything…

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Examine the religious principles which have, in fact, prevailed in the world. You will scarcely be persuaded that they are other than…

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That the corruption of the best thing produces the worst, is grown into a maxim, and is commonly proved, among other instances,…

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“They all make up new species of crime and bring unhappiness in their train. When I hear a man is religious ,…

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The sceptics assert, though absurdly, that the origin of all religious worship was derived from the utility of inanimate objects,as the sun…

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The greatest crimes have been found, in many instances, to be compatible with a superstitious piety and devotion; hence it is justly…

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Convulsions in nature, disorders, prodigies, miracles, though the most opposite of the plan of a wise superintendent, impress mankind with the strongest…

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If the religious spirit be ever mentioned in any historical narration, we are sure to meet afterwards with a detail of the…

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As every inquiry which regards religion is of the utmost importance, there are two questions in particular which challenge our attention, to…

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“Here then we are first to consider a book, presented to us by a barbarous and ignorant people, written in an age…

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Every disastrous accident alarms us, and sets us on enquiries concerning the principles whence it arose: Apprehensions spring up with regard to…

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“Nay, if we should suppose, what never happens, that a popular religion were found, in which it was expressly declared, that nothing…

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The many instances of forged miracles, and prophecies, and supernatural events, which, in all ages, have either been detected by contrary evidence,…

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“It is an observation suggested by all history, and by none more than by that of James I and his successor [Charles…

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“There is no method of reasoning more common, and yet none more blameable, than, in philosophical disputes, to endeavour the refutation of…

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I shall venture to affirm, that there never was a popular religion, which represented the state of departed souls in such a…

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It must appear impossible, that theism could, from reasoning, have been the primary religion of human race, and have afterwards, by its…

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All the sciences have a relation, greater or less, to human nature; and...however wide any of them may seem to run from…

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“A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature; and because firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the case…

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“Man, it is true, can, by combination, surmount all his real enemies, and become master of the whole animal creation: but does…

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

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

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It forms a strong presumption against all supernatural and miraculous relations, that they are observed chiefly to abound among ignorant and barbarous…

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The religious hypothesis, therefore, must be considered only as a particular method of accounting for the visible phenomena of the universe: but…

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The proper office of religion is to regulate the heart of men, humanize their conduct, infuse the spirit of temperance, order, andobedience;…

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If God is omnipotent, omniscient and wholly good, whence evil? If God wills to prevent evil but cannot, then He is not…

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More by David Hume

“Beauty in things exists in the mind that contemplates them.”

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

All morality depends upon our sentiments; and when any action or quality of the mind pleases us after a certain manner we say it…

And indeed nothing but the most determined scepticism, along with a great degree of indolence, can justify this aversion to metaphysics. For if truth…

...virtue is attended by more peace of mind than vice, and meets with a more favourable reception from the world. I am sensible, that,…

That the sun will not rise tomorrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction, than the affirmation, that it will…

We may conclude, therefore, that, in order to establish laws for the regulation of property, we must be acquainted with the nature and situation…

The observation of human blindness and weakness is the result of all philosophy, and meets us at every turn, in spite of our endeavours…

The religious hypothesis, therefore, must be considered only as a particular method of accounting for the visible phenomena of the universe: but no just…

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…

We may observe that, in displaying the praises of any humane, beneficent man, there is one circumstance which never fails to be amply insisted…

“The most perfect happiness, surely, must arise from the contemplation of the most perfect object.”

“They all make up new species of crime and bring unhappiness in their train. When I hear a man is religious , I conclude…

There is not to be found, in all history, any miracle attested by a sufficient number of men, of such unquestioned good sense, education…

“But though there be naturally a wide difference in point of delicacy between one person and another, nothing tends further to encrease and improve…