Date: January 1739

"I know that the fear of the civil magistrate is as strong a restraint as any of iron, and that I am in as perfect safety as if he were chain'd or imprison'd."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: January 1739

"Here is a connected chain of natural causes and voluntary actions; but the mind feels no difference betwixt them in passing from one link to another."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1751, 1777

"I suppose, if Cicero were now alive, it would be found difficult to fetter his moral sentiments by narrow systems; or persuade him, that no qualities were to be admitted as virtues, or acknowledged to be a part of personal merit, but what were recommended by The Whole Duty of Man."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)