Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.
DAVID HUMEHe is happy whose circumstances suit his temper, but he is more excellent who can suit his temper to his circumstance.
More David Hume Quotes
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Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them
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The fact that different cultures have different practices no more refutes [moral] objectivism than the fact that water flows in different directions in different places refutes the law of gravity.
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If subjects must never resist, it follows that every prince, without any effort, policy, or violence, is at once rendered absolute and uncontrollable.
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Any pride or haughtiness, is displeasing to us, merely because it shocks our own pride, and leads us by sympathy into comparison, which causes the disagreeable passion of humility.
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Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.
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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 wit, that concerning its foundation in reason, and that concerning it origin in human nature.
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Revolutions of government cannot be effected by the mere force of argument and reasoning.
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But the greatest part of mankind float between vice and virtue.
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The Crusades – the most signal and most durable monument of human folly that has yet appeared in any age or nation.
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What a peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call ‘thought’
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Nothing is more usual than for philosophers to encroach upon the province of grammarians; and to engage in disputes of words, while they imagine that they are handling controversies of the deepest importance and concern
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It is, therefore, a just political maxim, that every man must be supposed a knave.
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There is nothing to be learnt from a Professor, which is not to be met with in Books.
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All knowledge degenerates into probability.
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Epicurus’s old questions are still unanswered: Is he (God) willing to prevent evil, but not able? then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? then whence evil?
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The victory is not gained by the men at arms, who manage the pike and the sword; but by the trumpeters, drummers, and musicians of the army.
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Heaven and Hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and bad.
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The bigotry of theologians is a malady which seems almost incurable.
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A purpose, an intention, a design, strikes everywhere even the careless, the most stupid thinker.
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It is difficult for a man to speak long of himself without vanity.
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We make allowance for a certain degree of selfishness in men; because we know it to be inseparable from human nature, and inherent in our frame and constitution. By this reflexion we correct those sentiments of blame, which so naturally arise upon any opposition.
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It is an absurdity to believe that the Deity has human passions, and one of the lowest of human passions, a restless appetite for applause
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The truth springs from arguments amongst friends.
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It is possible for the same thing both to be and not to be.
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Carelessness and in-attention alone can afford us any remedy. For this reason I rely entirely upon them.
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A wise man apportions his beliefs to the evidence.
DAVID HUME