50 David Hume Quotes from the Scottish Philosopher

David Hume was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, historian, economist and writer.


Best David Hume Quotes

1. “There is no such thing as freedom of choice unless there is freedom to refuse.” ~ (David Hume).

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2. “All knowledge degenerates into probability.” ~ (David Hume).

3. “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.” ~ (David Hume).

4. “A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.” ~ (David Hume).

5. “Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.” ~ (David Hume).

6. “The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.” ~ (David Hume).

7. “If God is omnipotent, omniscient and wholly good, whence evil? If God wills to prevent evil but cannot, then He is not omnipotent. If He can prevent evil but does not, then he is not good. In either case he is not God.” ~ (David Hume).

8. “Be a philosopher but, amid all your philosophy be still a man.” ~ (David Hume).

9. “No amount of observations of white swans can allow the inference that all swans are white, but the observation of a single black swan is sufficient to refute that conclusion.” ~ (David Hume).

10. “Anticipation of pleasure is, in itself, a very considerable pleasure.” ~ (David Hume).

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11. “Truth springs from argument amongst friends.” ~ (David Hume).

12. “Anything that is conceivable is possible.” ~ (David Hume).

Top David Hume Quotes

13. “Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.” ~ (David Hume).

14. “A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined.” ~ (David Hume).

15. “A little philosophy makes a man an Atheist: a great deal converts him to religion.” ~ (David Hume).

16. “Superstition is an enemy to civil liberty.” ~ (David Hume).

17. “For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe anything but the perception.” ~ (David Hume).

18. “Beauty, whether moral or natural, is felt, more properly than perceived.” ~ (David Hume).

19. “Time is a perishable commodity.” ~ (David Hume).

20. “Self-denial is a monkish virtue.” ~ (David Hume).

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21. “Custom is the great guide to human life.” ~ (David Hume).

22. “The heart of man is made to reconcile the most glaring contradictions.” ~ (David Hume).

Famous David Hume Quotes

23. “A propensity to hope and joy is real riches; one to fear and sorrow real poverty.” ~ (David Hume).

24. “Morals excite passions, and produce or prevent actions. Reason of itself is utterly impotent in this particular. The rules of morality, therefore, are not conclusions of our reason.” ~ (David Hume).

25. “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.” ~ (David Hume).

26. “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).

27. “The great subverter of Pyrrhonism or the excessive principles of scepticism is action, and employment, and the occupations of common life.” ~ (David Hume).

28. “Nothing is pure and entire of a piece. All advantages are attended with disadvantages. A universal compensation prevails in all conditions of being and existence.” ~ (David Hume).

29. “The supposition that the future resembles the past, is not founded on arguments of any kind, but is derived entirely from habit.” ~ (David Hume).

30. “Philosophy would render us entirely Pyrrhonian, were not nature too strong for it.” ~ (David Hume).

31. “Nothing is more favorable to the rise of politeness and learning, than a number of neighboring and independent states, connected together by commerce and policy.” ~ (David Hume).

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32. “The most lively thought is still inferior to the dullest sensation.” ~ (David Hume).

33. “He is happy whom circumstances suit his temper; but he Is more excellent who suits his temper to any circumstance.” ~ (David Hume).

34. “Curiosity, or the love of knowledge, has a very limited influence, and requires youth, leisure education, genius and example to make it govern any person.” ~ (David Hume).

Popular David Hume Quotes

35. “Nothing exists without a cause, the original cause of this universe we call God.” ~ (David Hume).

36. “In all ages of the world, priests have been enemies of liberty.” ~ (David Hume).

37. “The imagination of man is naturally sublime, delighted with whatever is remote and extraordinary, and running, without control, into the most distant parts of space and time in order to avoid the objects, which custom has rendered too familiar to it.” ~ (David Hume).

38. “Men often act knowingly against their interest.” ~ (David Hume).

39. “Great pleasures are much less frequent than great pains.” ~ (David Hume).

40. “The law always limits every power it gives.” ~ (David Hume).

Inspiring David Hume Quotes

41. “While we are reasoning concerning life, life is gone.” ~ (David Hume).

42. “Which is more likely: that the whole natural order is suspended, or that a jewish minx should tell a lie?” ~ (David Hume).

43. “It is seldom, that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Slavery has so frightful an aspect to men accustomed to freedom, that it must steal upon them by degrees, and must disguise itself in a thousand shapes, in order to be received.” ~ (David Hume).

44. “The minds of men are mirrors to one another, not only because they reflect each other’s emotions, but also because those rays of passions, sentiments and opinions may be often reverberated, and may decay away by insensible degrees.” ~ (David Hume).

45. “Mankind are so much the same, in all times and places, that history informs us of nothing new or strange in this particular. Its chief use is only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature.” ~ (David Hume).

46. “No man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping.” ~ (David Hume).

47. “The rules of morality are not the conclusion of our reason.” ~ (David Hume).

48. “That the sun will not rise tomorrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction, than the affirmation, that it will rise.” ~ (David Hume).

49. “The identity that we ascribe to things is only a fictitious one, established by the mind, not a peculiar nature belonging to what we’re talking about.” ~ (David Hume).


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Chandan Negi
Chandan Negi

I’m the Founder of Internet Pillar - I love sharing quotes and motivational content to inspire and motivate people - #quotes #motivation #internetpillar