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If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning, concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.
(David Hume (1711-1776), Scottish philosopher. Enquiries Concerning the Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals, sect. 12 ("Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy"), part 3, p. 165, ed. L. Selby-Bigge, M.A., 2nd edition, London, Oxford University Press (1902).
From "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.")
Read more quotations about / on: commit, school
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2
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Consciousness never deceives.... We learn the influence of our will from experience alone. And experience only teaches us, how one event constantly follows another; without instructing us in the secret connexion, which binds them together, and renders them inseparable.
(David Hume (1711-1776), Scottish philosopher. Enquiries Concerning the Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals, sect. 7 ("Of the Idea of Necessary Connexion"), part 1, p. 66, ed. L. Selby-Bigge, M.A., 2nd edition, London, Oxford University Press (1902).
From "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.")
Read more quotations about / on: together, alone
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3
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To be a philosophical sceptic is, in a man of letters, the first and most essential to being a sound, believing Christian.
(David Hume (1711-1776), Scottish philosopher. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, part XII, p. 89, ed. R.H. Popkin, Hackett, Indianapolis (1980).
Completed in 1776 and published posthumously.)
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4
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It seems certain, that though a man, in a flush of humour, after intense reflection on the many contradictions and imperfections of human reason, may entirely renounce all belief and opinion, it is impossible for him to persevere in this total scepticism, or make it appear in his conduct for a few hours.
(David Hume (1711-1776), Scottish philosopher. Cleanthes to Philo, in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, part 1, p. 132, ed. Norman Kemp Smith, Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill (1947).)
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The proper office of religion is to regulate the heart of men, humanize their conduct, infuse the spirit of temperance, order, and obedience; and as its operation is silent, and only enforces the motives of morality and justice, it is in danger of being overlooked, and confounded with these other motives.
(David Hume (1711-1776), Scottish philosopher. Cleanthes, in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, part 12, p. 220, ed. Norman Kemp Smith, Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill (1947).)
Read more quotations about / on: justice, heart
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This avidity alone, of acquiring goods and possessions for ourselves and our nearest friends, is insatiable, perpetual, universal, and directly destructive of society.
(David Hume (1711-1776), Scottish philosopher, historian, embassy secretary. A Treatise of Human Nature, pp. 491-492, ed. Selby-Bigge (1740).)
Read more quotations about / on: alone
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7
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No one can doubt, that the convention for the distinction of property, and for the stability of possession, is of all circumstances the most necessary to the establishment of human society, and that after the agreement for the fixing and observing of this rule, there remains little or nothing to be done towards settling a perfect harmony and concord.
(David Hume (1711-1776), Scottish philosopher, historian, embassy secretary. A Treatise of Human Nature, p. 491, ed. Selby-Bigge (1740).)
Read more quotations about / on: perfect
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