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
When we reflect on our past sentiments and affections, our thought is a faithful mirror, and copies its objects truly; but the… — David Hume Copy Share Image
A man who has cured himself of all ridiculous prepossessions, and is fully, sincerely, and steadily convinced, from experience as well as… — David Hume Copy Share Image
Morals and criticism are not so properly objects of the understanding as of taste and sentiment. — David Hume Copy Share Image
The great charm of poetry consists in lively pictures of the sublime passions, magnanimity, courage, disdain of fortune; or thoseof the tender… — David Hume Copy Share Image
But would we know, whether the pretended prophet had really attained a just sentiment of morals? Let us attend to his narration;… — 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 make allowance for a certain degree of selfishness in men; because we know it to be inseparable from human nature, and… — David Hume Copy Share Image
Fine writing, according to Mr. Addison, consists of sentiments which are natural without being obvious. — 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
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
Nothing can be more real, or concern us more, than our own sentiments of pleasure and uneasiness; and if these be favourable… — 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
Convulsions in nature, disorders, prodigies, miracles, though the most opposite of the plan of a wise superintendent, impress mankind with the strongest… — David Hume Copy Share Image
There is nothing, in itself, valuable or despicable, desirable or hateful, beautiful or deformed; but that these attributes arise from the particular… — David Hume Copy Share Image
[Rousseau] has not had the precaution to throw any veil over his sentiments; and as he scorns to dissemble his contempt of… — 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
Nothing appears more surprising to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are… — 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
No quality of human nature is more remarkable, both in itself and in its consequences, than that propensity we have to sympathize… — David Hume Copy Share Image
The minds of men are mirrors to one another, not only because they reflect each other's emotions, but also because those rays… — David Hume Copy Share Image
All sentiment is right; because sentiment has a reference to nothing beyond itself, and is always real, wherever a man is conscious… — 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