Skip to content

Falsehood Quote by David Hume

“Nothing indeed can be a stronger presumption of falsehood than the approbation of the multitude.” quote by David Hume — Download Open image

“Nothing indeed can be a stronger presumption of falsehood than the approbation of the multitude.”

About This Quote

Source Philosophy: Treatise on Human Nature, 1739

Mass approval does not guarantee truth; popular belief can mask falsehoods.

In simple terms: Many people agreeing doesn’t make something true.

Key Takeaway

Question consensus, seek evidence.

Themes

skepticism truth social influence

Mood

analytical skeptical

Type

philosophical critical

When to use this quote

media consumption
political discourse
scientific debates

Key Concepts

epistemology mass psychology

Questions to Reflect On

When is majority opinion reliable?
How to discern truth amid popular belief?

A Different Perspective

Consensus can be useful in some contexts.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.3 out of 5 (6 ratings)

Falsehood Falsehood Approbation Honesty Multitudes Presumption Presumption Falsehood Stronger Stronger Presumption Truth

More by David Hume

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

Image

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

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Image

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

Image

Explore all 487 David Hume quotes

More Falsehood quotes

We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what…

Image

falsehood is not more unjustifiable than unsafe.

Image

THE ART OF PEACE is not easy. It is a fight to the finish, the slaying of evil desires and all falsehood within. On…

Morihei Ueshiba

Image

A mind conscious of right laughs at the falsehoods of rumour. [Lat., Conscia mens recti famae mendacia risit.]

Image

“Falsehood of a good man is better than truth of a bad one.”

Image

So true is it that all transactions of preeminent importance are wrapt in doubt and obscurity; while some hold for certain facts the most…

Image

Strange times are these in which we live when old and young are taught in falsehood's school, and the one man that dares to…

Image

It is a dangerous and fateful presumption, besides the absurd temerity that it implies, to disdain what we do not comprehend. For after you…

Image

Tangible language, which often tells more falsehoods than truths.

Abraham Lincoln

Image

Whether statistics be an art or a science... or a scientific art, we concern ourselves little. It is the basis of social and political…

Adolphe Quetelet

Image

Falsehood, like the dry-rot, flourishes the more in proportion as air and light are excluded.

Richard Whately

Image

“God is not as a man.” He thus shows that all men are indeed guilty of falsehood, inasmuch as they change from one thing…

The Church Fathers

Image

Browse all 724 Falsehood quotes