David Hume

Of all the animals with which this globe is peopled, there is none towards whom nature seems, at first sight, to have exercis’d more cruelty than towards man, in the numberless wants and necessities, with which she has loaded him, and in the slender means, which she affords to the relieving these necessities.

In contriving any system of government, and fixing the several checks and controuls of the constitution, every man ought to be supposed a knave , and to have no other end, in all his actions, than private interest.

We speak not strictly and philosophically when we talk of the combat of passion and of reason. Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.

The consequence of a very free commerce between the sexes, and of their living much together, will often terminate in intrigues and gallantry.

Poets … though liars by profession, always endeavour to give an air of truth to their fictions.

A propensity to hope and joy is real riches; one to fear and sorrow, real poverty.

What a peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call 'thought'.

History is the discovering of the constant and universal principles of human nature.

It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.

Truth, springs from argument amongst friends.

Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.

Generally speaking, the errors of religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.

Eloquence, when at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection; but addressing itself entirely to the fancy or the affections, captivates the willing hearers, and subdues their understanding.

Of all crimes that human creatures are capable of committing, the most horrid and unnatural is ingratitude, especially when it is committed against parents.

It is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.

Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.

Never literary attempt was more unfortunate than my Treatise of Human Nature. It fell dead-born from the press.

The heart of man is made to reconcile the most glaring contradictions.

Beauty is no quality in things themselves. It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them.

Avarice, the spur of industry.

Money … is none of the wheels of trade: it is the oil which renders the motion of the wheels more smooth and easy.

The Christian religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one.

If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning, concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.

Custom, then, is the great guide of human life.