Claude Adrien Helvetius Quotes
Claude Adrien Helvetius was a French Enlightenment philosopher, tax-farmer, and patron of the philosophes. His treatise On the Mind, published in 1758, applied Locke's empiricism to a sweeping theory of human nature according to which all our thought is derived from sensation and all our action from self-interest. The quotes below are attributed to Claude Adrien Helvetius, organized by topic.
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Claude Adrien Helvetius on Happiness
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Attributed to Claude Adrien Helvetius:
“The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.”
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“…there are men whom a happy disposition, a strong desire of glory and esteem, inspire with the same love for justice and virtue, which men in general have for riches and honours.”
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Claude Adrien Helvetius on Knowledge
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Attributed to Claude Adrien Helvetius:
“Education makes us what we are.”
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Attributed to Claude Adrien Helvetius:
“All knowledge comes from sensation.”
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“All men have an equal disposition for understanding.”
p. 286 -
“Most events spring from causes equally small: we are unacquainted with them because most historians have been themselves ignorant of them, or have not had eyes capable of perceiving them. It is true, that, in this respect, the mind may repair their omissions; for the knowledge of certain principles easily compensates the lack of knowledge of certain facts .”
La plupart des évènements ont des causes aussi petites. Nous les ignorons, parce que la plupart des historiens les ont ignorées eux-mêmes, ou parce qu’ils n’ont pas eu d’yeux pour les appercevoir. Il est vrai qu’à cet égard l’esprit peut réparer leurs omissions : la connoissance de certains principes supplée facilement à la connoissance de certains faits . | Essay III, Chapter I -
“La plupart des évènements ont des causes aussi petites. Nous les ignorons, parce que la plupart des historiens les ont ignorées eux-mêmes, ou parce qu’ils n’ont pas eu d’yeux pour les appercevoir. Il est vrai qu’à cet égard l’esprit peut réparer leurs omissions : la connoissance de certains principes supplée facilement à la connoissance de certains faits .”
Most events spring from causes equally small: we are unacquainted with them because most historians have been themselves ignorant of them, or have not had eyes capable of perceiving them. It is true, that, in this respect, the mind may repair their omissions; for the knowledge of certain principles easily compensates the lack of knowledge of certain facts . -
“Essay III, Chapter I”
Most events spring from causes equally small: we are unacquainted with them because most historians have been themselves ignorant of them, or have not had eyes capable of perceiving them. It is true, that, in this respect, the mind may repair their omissions; for the knowledge of certain principles easily compensates the lack of knowledge of certain facts . -
“The degree of genius necessary to please us is pretty nearly the same proportion that we ourselves have.”
Essay II, Chapter X, note. -
“Essay II, Chapter X, note.”
The degree of genius necessary to please us is pretty nearly the same proportion that we ourselves have. -
“To limit the press is to insult a nation; to prohibit reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves: such a prohibition ought to fill them with disdain.”
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Claude Adrien Helvetius on Love
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“Discipline is, in a manner, nothing else but the art of inspiring the soldiers with greater fear of their officers than of the enemy. This fear has often the effect of courage: but it cannot prevail against the fierce and obstinate valor of people animated by fanaticism, or warm love of their country.”
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Claude Adrien Helvetius on Mind
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“No nation has reason to regard itself superior to others by virtue of its innate endowment.”
p. 21
Claude Adrien Helvetius on Nature
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Attributed to Claude Adrien Helvetius:
“Self-interest is the spring of every action.”
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Attributed to Claude Adrien Helvetius:
“The variations among men are not natural, but the result of education.”