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?
DAVID HUMEIt is an absurdity to believe that the Deity has human passions, and one of the lowest of human passions, a restless appetite for applause
More David Hume Quotes
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It is, therefore, a just political maxim, that every man must be supposed a knave.
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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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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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I never knew anyone, that examined and deliberated about nonsense, who did not believe it before the end of his enquiries.
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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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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.
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What a peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call ‘thought’
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A wise man apportions his beliefs to the evidence.
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The feelings of our heart, the agitation of our passions, the vehemence of our affections, dissipate all its conclusions, and reduce the profound philosopher to a mere plebeian.
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no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact, which it endeavors to establish.
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Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them
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When suicide is out of fashion we conclude that none but madmen destroy themselves.
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All sentiment is right; because sentiment has a reference to nothing beyond itself, and is always real, wherever a man is conscious of it.
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But the greatest part of mankind float between vice and virtue.
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Tis not unreasonable for me to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.
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Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.
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I weigh the one miracle against the other and according to the superiority which I discover, I pronounce my decision.
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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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The gazing populace receive greedily, without examination, whatever soothes superstition and promotes wonder.
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In public affairs men are often better pleased that the truth, though known to everybody, should be wrapped up under a decent cover than if it were exposed in open daylight to the eyes of all the world.
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No man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping.
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The science of man is the only solid foundation for the other sciences.
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How can we satisfy ourselves without going on in infinitum? And, after all, what satisfaction is there in that infinite progression?
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When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities.
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The truth springs from arguments amongst friends.
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A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature.
DAVID HUME