--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And where else will [Hume,] this…" description: "\"And where else will [Hume,] this degenerate son of science, this traitor to his fellow men, find the origin of just powers, if not in the majority of t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48f/thomas-jefferson-43_degenerates_and-where-else-will-hume-this-degenerate_2857809.jpg" --- # And where else will \[Hume,\] this degenerate son of… ![“And where else will [Hume,] this degenerate son of science, this traitor to his fellow men, find the origin of just powers, if not in the majority of the society? Will it be in the minority? Or in an individual of that minority?” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48f/thomas-jefferson-43_degenerates_and-where-else-will-hume-this-degenerate_2857809.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48f/thomas-jefferson-43_degenerates_and-where-else-will-hume-this-degenerate_2857809.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48f/thomas-jefferson-43_degenerates_and-where-else-will-hume-this-degenerate_2857809.jpg) > “And where else will \[Hume,\] this degenerate son of science, this traitor to his fellow men, find the origin of just powers, if not in the majority of the society? Will it be in the minority? Or in an individual of that minority?” [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Jefferson questions that the legitimacy of authority must be rooted in the majority, not in a few individuals. **In simple terms:** Authority should come from the people, not a minority. Key Takeaway Seek popular consent for power. Themes politics authority democracy Mood reflective critical Type philosophical political When to use this quote - legislative debates - public policy formation - citizen activism Key Concepts social contract majority rule Questions to Reflect On - How do we ensure minority voices are heard? - What safeguards protect against tyranny of the majority? A Different Perspective Minorities can still wield influence despite being outnumbered. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Degenerates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/degenerates/) [Democracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/democracy/) [Fellow man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fellow-man/) [Fellows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fellows/) [Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hume/) [Hume Degenerate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hume-degenerate-3839583/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Just Powers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/just-powers-3839584/) [Majority](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/majority/) [Majority Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/majority-society-898380/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Minorities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/minorities/) [Powers Majority](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/powers-majority-3839585/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Son](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/son/) [Traitor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/traitor/) ## Related quotes > [“The majority of any society comprised, Smith knew, not landlords or merchants, but "servants, laborers, and workmen of different kinds," who derived their income…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-z-muller/the-majority-of-any-society-comprised-smith-knew-not-landlords-or/) [Jerry Z. Muller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-z-muller/) > [The majority of a society is the true definition of the public.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-majority-of-a-society-is-the-true-definition-of-the-public/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [The majority is not society, is not everyone. Majority coercion over the minority is still coercion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/murray-rothbard/the-majority-is-not-society-is-not-everyone-majority-coercion-over/) [Murray Rothbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/murray-rothbard/) > [The people are the ultimate guardians of their own liberties. In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-people-are-the-ultimate-guardians-of-their-own-liberties-in-every/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/every-government-degenerates-when-trusted-to-the-rulers-of-the-people/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [If some period be not fixed, either by the Constitution or by practice, to the services of the First Magistrate, his office, though nominally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/if-some-period-be-not-fixed-either-by-the-constitution-or-by-practice/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“To question reason is to trust it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-stokes/to-question-reason-is-to-trust-it/) [Mitch Stokes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-stokes/) > [Jefferson, Madison and many others taught that complex laws and codes were sure signs of oppression. They agreed with Montesquieu, Lock and Hume and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-demille/jefferson-madison-and-many-others-taught-that-complex-laws-and-codes/) [Oliver DeMille](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-demille/) > [Nature and society are so replete with startling contrasts that wit often consists in the mere statement and comparison of facts, as when Hume…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-percy-whipple/nature-and-society-are-so-replete-with-startling-contrasts-that-wit/) [Edwin Percy Whipple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-percy-whipple/) > [“I have always considered David Hume as approaching as nearly the idea of a perfectly wise and virtuous man as perhaps the nature of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/i-have-always-considered-david-hume-as-approaching-as-nearly-the-idea/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [Taste is not stationary. It grows every day, and is improved by cultivation, as a good temper is refined by religion. In its most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/taste-is-not-stationary-it-grows-every-day-and-is-improved-by/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [Democrats all claim they'll get rough with the terrorists, but they can't even face Brit Hume.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-coulter/democrats-all-claim-they-ll-get-rough-with-the-terrorists-but-they/) [Ann Coulter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-coulter/) > [The first-cause and prime-mover argument, brilliantly proffered by St. Thomas Aquinas in the fourteenth century (and brilliantly refuted by David Hume in the eighteenth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/the-first-cause-and-prime-mover-argument-brilliantly-proffered-by-st/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [“David Hume, in a moment of acute skepticism, felt panicky in the solitude of his study and had to go out and join his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/david-hume-in-a-moment-of-acute-skepticism-felt-panicky-in-the/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [Poor David Hume is dying fast, but with more real cheerfulness and good humor and with more real resignation to the necessary course of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/poor-david-hume-is-dying-fast-but-with-more-real-cheerfulness-and/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) ## More by Thomas Jefferson > [A man has a right to use a saw, an axe, a plane, separately; may he not combine their uses on the same piece…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-man-has-a-right-to-use-a-saw-an-axe-a-plane-separately-may-he-not/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [ \[States and the Federal government are\] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/states-and-the-federal-government-are-coordinate-departments-of-one/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/i-am-for-freedom-of-religion-and-against-all-maneuvers-to-bring-about/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/single-acts-of-tyranny-may-be-ascribed-to-the-accidental-opinion-of-a/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“Perceiving the order of nature to be that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue, I am willing to hope it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/perceiving-the-order-of-nature-to-be-that-individual-happiness-shall/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/free-government-is-founded-in-jealousy-and-not-in-confidence-it-is/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/though-you-cannot-see-when-you-take-one-step-what-will-be-the-next/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-well-informed-citizenry-is-the-best-defense-against-tyranny/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. After the injuries we have done them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-two-principles-on-which-our-conduct-towards-the-indians-should-be/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Knowledge is power...knowled ge is safety...knowle dge is happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/knowledge-is-power-knowled-ge-is-safety-knowle-dge-is-happiness/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [There is... an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/there-is-an-artificial-aristocracy-founded-on-wealth-and-birth/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Nothing but free argument, raillery and even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/nothing-but-free-argument-raillery-and-even-ridicule-will-preserve/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/when-the-people-are-afraid-of-the-government-that-s-tyranny-but-when/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/we-hold-these-truths-to-be-self-evident-that-all-men-are-created/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Explore all 2,098 Thomas Jefferson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ## More Degenerates quotes > [I find Nigeria very frustrating. I am not alone in this. There are many Nigerians abroad. As you know, the brain drain is just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chinua-achebe/i-find-nigeria-very-frustrating-i-am-not-alone-in-this-there-are-many/) [Chinua Achebe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chinua-achebe/) > [People who reject transcendent authority can no longer persuade one another through rational arguments; everything is reduced to personal opinion. Debates about ideas thus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-colson/people-who-reject-transcendent-authority-can-no-longer-persuade-one/) [Charles Colson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-colson/) > [Christianity is not a law of bondage; and if it respect the hand of God which sometimes raises up tyrants, it draws up where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-henri-lacordaire/christianity-is-not-a-law-of-bondage-and-if-it-respect-the-hand-of/) [Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-henri-lacordaire/) > [Charlotte slammed the paper down onto her desk with an exclamation of rage. “Aloysius Starkweather is the most stubborn, hypocritical, obstinate, degenerate—” She broke…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/charlotte-slammed-the-paper-down-onto-her-desk-with-an-exclamation-of/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [A writer of story books! What kind of business in life-what mode of glorifying God, or being serviceable to mankind in his day and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/a-writer-of-story-books-what-kind-of-business-in-life-what-mode-of/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [Our most pressing obligation is to do all in our power to obtain a revival that will result in a reformed, revitalized, purified church.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/our-most-pressing-obligation-is-to-do-all-in-our-power-to-obtain-a/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [Without the truth of the people, politics degenerates into mere spectacle and democracy declines, leaving demagoguery and cynicism to fill the void.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-brown/without-the-truth-of-the-people-politics-degenerates-into-mere/) [Jerry Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-brown/) > [We have either to progress or to degenerate. Our ancestors did great things in the past, but we have to grow into a fuller…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/we-have-either-to-progress-or-to-degenerate-our-ancestors-did-great/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [By consequence I hold that no one ever did, or can do, anything for "society."... Comte invented the term altruism as an antonym for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-j-nock/by-consequence-i-hold-that-no-one-ever-did-or-can-do-anything-for/) [Albert J. Nock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-j-nock/) > [Human beings are compelled to live within a lie, but they can be compelled to do so only because they are in fact capable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vaclav-havel/human-beings-are-compelled-to-live-within-a-lie-but-they-can-be/) [Vaclav Havel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vaclav-havel/) > [Human nature being what it is, peace must inevitably be a relative condition. 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