David Hume Quotes
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist of the Scottish Enlightenment. In A Treatise of Human Nature and the Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding he advanced a thoroughgoing empiricism and skepticism about causation, induction, and the self. The quotes below are attributed to David Hume, organized by topic.
Browse David Hume by topic
David Hume on Freedom
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Attributed to David Hume:
“It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.”
David Hume on God
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“Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.”
Part 4, Section 7 -
“Essay on the Immortality of the Soul”
Heaven and Hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad; but the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue. -- Were one to go round the world with an intention of giving a good supper to the righteous, and a sound drubbing to the wicked, he would frequently be embarrassed in his choice, and would find that the merits and the demerits of most men and women scarcely am
David Hume on Happiness
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“He is happy whom circumstances suit his temper; but he is more excellent who suits his temper to any circumstances.”
§ 6.9 : Of Qualities Useful to Ourselves, Pt. 1
David Hume on Knowledge
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“A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.”
Section X: Of Miracles; Part I. 87 -
“All knowledge degenerates into probability.”
Part 4, Section 1 -
“When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken.”
§ 9.13 : Conclusion, Pt. 1 -
“Here then we may learn the fallacy of the remark... that any particular state is weak, though fertile, populous, and well cultivated, merely because it wants money . It appears that the want of money can never injure any state within itself: For men and commodities are the real strength of any community. It is the simple manner of living which here hurts the public, by confining the gold and silve”
Of Money (1752) as quoted in David Hume: Writings on Economics (1955, 1970) ed., Eugene Rotwein, p. 45. -
“A wise man's kingdom is his own breast: or, if he ever looks farther, it will only be to the judgment of a select few, who are free from prejudices , and capable of examining his work . Nothing indeed can be a stronger presumption of falsehood than the approbation of the multitude; and Phocion, you know, always suspected himself of some blunder when he was attended with the applauses of the populace.”
Playfully ironic letter to Adam Smith regarding the positive reception of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments -
“Does a man of sense run after every silly tale of hobgoblins or fairies , and canvass particularly the evidence ? I never knew anyone, that examined and deliberated about nonsense who did not believe it before the end of his enquiries.”
Letters -
“As to the Approbation or Esteem of those Blockheads who call themselves the Public, & whom a Bookseller, a Lord, a Priest, or a Party can guide, I do most heartily despise it.”
Letter 138, To Gilbert Elliot of Minto; August 9, 1757 -
“Letter 138, To Gilbert Elliot of Minto; August 9, 1757”
As to the Approbation or Esteem of those Blockheads who call themselves the Public, & whom a Bookseller, a Lord, a Priest, or a Party can guide, I do most heartily despise it. -
“The conclusion [of the essay 'Of the Protestant Succession'] shows me a Whig, but a very sceptical one.”
Letter to Henry Home (9 February 1748), quoted in J. Y. T. Greig, The Letters of David Hume: Volume I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1932), p. 111
David Hume on Life
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“Custom, then, is the great guide of human life.”
Variant (perhaps a paraphrase of this passage): It is not reason which is the guide of life, but custom. -
Attributed to David Hume:
“No man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping.”
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“The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.”
On Suicide
David Hume on Mind
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“Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.”
Part 3, Section 3 -
“Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.”
Part I, Essay 23: Of The Standard of Taste -
Attributed to David Hume:
“It is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.”
David Hume on Virtue
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“The corruption of the best things gives rise to the worst.”
Part X - With regard to courage or abasement -
“Playfully ironic letter to Adam Smith regarding the positive reception of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments”
A wise man's kingdom is his own breast: or, if he ever looks farther, it will only be to the judgment of a select few, who are free from prejudices , and capable of examining his work . Nothing indeed can be a stronger presumption of falsehood than the approbation of the multitude; and Phocion, you know, always suspected himself of some blunder when he was attended with the applauses of the popula -
“Heaven and Hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad; but the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue. -- Were one to go round the world with an intention of giving a good supper to the righteous, and a sound drubbing to the wicked, he would frequently be embarrassed in his choice, and would find that the merits and the demerits of most men and women scarcely amount to the value of either.”
Essay on the Immortality of the Soul
Things actually not said by David Hume
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as David Hume but are in fact from someone else. Did David Hume say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
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Did David Hume say this? No.
“Truth springs from argument amongst friends.”
This line is sometimes attributed to Hume but has not been located in his Treatise, Enquiries, Essays, or surviving correspondence. The actual source has not been identified.
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Did David Hume say this? No.
“Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principles.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Hume never used the word "stereotype" (the term was not invented until 1798).
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Did David Hume say this? No.
“The role of reason is not to make us wise but to reveal our ignorance”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Commonly attributed to Hume, but without any apparent basis.