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)

Date: 1742, 1777

"As a stream necessarily follows the several inclinations of the ground, on which it runs; so are the ignorant and thoughtless part of mankind actuated by their natural propensities"

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742, 1777

"The fabric and constitution of our mind no more depends on our choice, than that of our body."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742, 1777

"Such are effectually excluded from all pretensions to philosophy, and the medicine of the mind, so much boasted."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"When we reflect on our past sentiments and affections, our thought is a faithful mirror, and copies its objects truly; but the colours which it employs are faint and dull, in comparison of those in which our original perceptions were clothed."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"Man is a reasonable being; and as such, receives from science his proper food and nourishment."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"An artist must be better qualified to succeed in this undertaking, who, besides a delicate taste and a quick apprehension, possesses an accurate knowledge of the internal fabric, the operations of the understanding, the workings of the passions, and the various species of sentiment which discrim...

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"And though these researches may appear painful and fatiguing, it is with some minds as with some bodies, which being endowed with vigorous and florid health, require severe exercise, and reap a pleasure from what, to the generality of mankind, may seem burdensome and laborious."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"Obscurity, indeed, is painful to the mind as well as to the eye; but to bring light from obscurity, by whatever labour, must needs be delightful and rejoicing."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)