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It is... a just political maxim, that every man must be supposed a knave.

David Hume

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David Hume
Age: 65 †
Born: 1711
Born: April 26
Died: 1776
Died: August 25
Economist
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Edinburgh
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More quotes by David Hume

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Where is the reward of virtue? and what recompense has nature provided for such important sacrifices as those of life and fortune, which we must often make to it? O sons of earth! Are ye ignorant of the value of this celestial mistress? And do ye meanly inquire for her portion, when ye observe her genuine beauty?
David Hume
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It affords a violent prejudice against almost every science, that no prudent man, however sure of his principles, dares prophesy concerning any event, or foretell the remote consequences of things.
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Fine writing, according to Mr. Addison, consists of sentiments which are natural without being obvious.
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Though experience be our only guide in reasoning concerning matters of fact it must be acknowledged, that this guide is not altogether infallible, but in some cases is apt to lead us into errors.
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He is happy whom circumstances suit his temper but he Is more excellent who suits his temper to any circumstance.
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Liberty of any kind is never lost all at once.
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Truth springs from argument amongst friends.
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It is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.
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Rousseau was mad but influential Hume was sane but had no followers.
David Hume
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But it is a miracle that a dead man should come to life because that has never been observed in any age or country.
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I do not think a philosopher who would apply himself so earnestly to the explaining the ultimate principles of the soul, would show himself a great master in the very science of human nature, which he pretends to explain, or very knowing in what is naturally satisfactory to the mind of man.
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Almost every one has a predominant inclination, to which his other desires and affections submit, and which governs him, though perhaps with some intervals, though the whole course of his life.
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In all the events of life, we ought still to preserve our scepticism. If we believe that fire warms, or water refreshes, it is only because it costs us too much pains to think otherwise.
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All power, even the most despotic, rests ultimately on opinion.
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The free conversation of a friend is what I would prefer to any environment.
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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.
David Hume
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God is an ever-present spirit guiding all that happens to a wise and holy end.
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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.
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While Newton seemed to draw off the veil from some of the mysteries of nature, he showed at the same time the imperfections of the mechanical philosophy and thereby restored her ultimate secrets to that obscurity, in which they ever did and ever will remain.
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Virtue, like wholesome food, is better than poisons, however corrected.
David Hume