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Ambition
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Where ambition can cover its enterprises, even to the person himself, under the appearance of principle, it is the most incurable and inflexible of passions.
-David Hume
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Certainty
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When men are the most sure and arrogant they are commonly the most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation and suspense which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities.
-David Hume
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Chance
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He is happy whom circumstances suit his temper; but he Is more excellent who suits his temper to any circumstance.
-David Hume
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Character
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Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principals.
-David Hume
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Comedy
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A pleasant comedy, which paints the manners of the age, and exposes a faithful picture of nature, is a durable work, and is transmitted to the latest posterity. But a system, whether physical or metaphysical, commonly owes its success to its novelty; and is no sooner canvassed with impartiality than its weakness is discovered.
-David Hume, The History of England, from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688, vol. 6, p. 153, Indianapolis (1983)
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Competition
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And what is the greatest number? Number one.
-David Hume
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Conversation
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Eloquence, at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection, but addresses itself entirely to the desires and affections, captivating the willing hearers, and subduing their understanding.
-David Hume
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Customs
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Custom, then, is the great guide of human life.
-David Hume
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Death
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Doctor, as I believe you would not choose to tell any thing but the truth, you had better tell him, that I am dying as fast as my enemies, if I have any, could wish, and as easily and cheerfully as my best friends could desire.
the him referred to is his friend Colonel Edmondstone
-David Hume, Letter From Adam Smith, LL.D. to William Strachan, Esq.
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Genius
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The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds.
-David Hume
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Government
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Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.
-David Hume
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Greed
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Avarice, the spur of industry.
-David Hume
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Happiness
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Human happiness seems to consist in three ingredients; action, pleasure and indolence. And though these ingredients ought to be mixed in different proportions, according to the disposition of the person, yet no one ingredient can be entirely wanting without destroying in some measure the relish of the whole composition. composition.
-David Hume
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Ideas
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Apart from the representational content of an idea there is another component: its force and vivacity, its impetus.
-David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature
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Liberty
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It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.
-David Hume
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Life
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It is not reason which is the guide of life, but custom.
-David Hume
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Manners
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Among well bred people a mutual deference is affected, contempt for others is disguised; authority concealed; attention given to each in his turn; and an easy stream of conversation maintained without vehemence, without interruption, without eagerness for victory, and without any airs of superiority.
-David Hume
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Power
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The law always limits every power it gives.
-David Hume
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Thought
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Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.
-David Hume
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What a peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call 'thought'.
-David Hume
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Women
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On the theory of the soul
-David Hume
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Books by and about David Hume