Date: 1742

"The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds; and instead of vines and olives for the pleasure and use of man, produces, to its slothful owner, the most abundant crop of poisons."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

"Surely then no mistakes are ever committed in this affair; but every man, however dissolute and negligent, proceeds in the pursuit of happiness, with as unerring a motion, as that which the celestial bodies observe, when, conducted by the hand of the Almighty, they roll along the ethereal plains."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

"Like many subordinate artists, employed to form the several wheels and springs of a machine: Such are those who excel in all the particular arts of life."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

"Proceed to learn the just value of every pursuit; long study is not requisite: Compare, though but for once, the mind to the body, virtue to fortune, and glory to pleasure."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

"The mind, unexercised, finds every delight insipid and loathsome; and ere yet the body, full of noxious humours, feels the torment of its multiplied diseases, your nobler part is sensible of the invading poison, and seeks in vain to relieve its anxiety by new pleasures, which still augment the f...

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

"I need not tell you, that, by this eager pursuit of pleasure, you more and more expose yourself to fortune and accidents, and rivet your affections on external objects, which chance may, in a moment, ravish from you."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

"So engaging are the sentiments of humanity, that they brighten up the very face of sorrow, and operate like the sun, which, shining on a dusky cloud or falling rain, paints on them the most glorious colours which are to be found in the whole circle of nature."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

"As harmonious colours mutually give and receive a lustre by their friendly union; so do these ennobling sentiments of the human mind."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

" But what supreme joy in the victories over vice as well as misery, when, by virtuous example or wise exhortation, our fellow-creatures are taught to govern their passions, reform their vices, and subdue their worst enemies, which inhabit within their own bosoms?"

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

"What satisfaction, when he looks within, to find the most turbulent passions tuned to just harmony and concord, and every jarring sound banished from this enchanting music!"

— Hume, David (1711-1776)