David Hume
Birthdate: May 7, 1711
Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Date of Death: August 25, 1776
Occupation: Author, Diplomat, Historian, Philosopher, and Political Economist
Profile: Best known for his empiricist and skeptical approach to philosophy.
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume
Number of Quotes: 12
A propensity to hope and joy is real riches; one to fear and sorrow real poverty.
A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.
Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.
But the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue.
Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principals.
Heaven and hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad.
I cannot but bless the memory of Julius Caesar,
for the great esteem he expressed for fat men, and his aversion to lean ones.
No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind
that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavours to establish.
Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider human affairs with a
philosophical eye, than the ease with which the many are governed by the few.
Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.
The best taxes are such as are levied upon consumptions, especially those of luxury ... They seem, in
some measure, voluntary; since a man may chuse how far he will use the commodity which is taxed.
To be a philosophical Skeptic is the first and most essential step towards being a sound, believing Christian.
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