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.
DAVID HUMEIf subjects must never resist, it follows that every prince, without any effort, policy, or violence, is at once rendered absolute and uncontrollable.
More David Hume Quotes
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A miracle is a violation of the laws of 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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A purpose, an intention, a design, strikes everywhere even the careless, the most stupid thinker.
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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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He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper, but he is more excellent who can suit his temper to his circumstance.
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It is, therefore, a just political maxim, that every man must be supposed a knave.
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We should never know how to adjust means to ends, or to employ our natural powers in the production of any effect. There would be an end at once of all action, as well as of the chief part of speculation.
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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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Men’s views of things are the result of their understanding alone. Their conduct is regulated by their understanding, their temper, and their passions.
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The truth springs from arguments amongst friends.
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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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I may venture to affirm of the rest of mankind, that they are nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement.
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Revolutions of government cannot be effected by the mere force of argument and reasoning.
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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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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.
DAVID HUME