David Hume

"There is a universal principle which has more weight and influence than taste is the sentiment of humanity."

"The world is commonly too full of unreasonable heats and violent animosities."

"No man can be happy who constantly regards himself as an object of animosity."

"Liberty of thought and expression forms the foundation of all other liberties."

"A man's sense of justice often compels him to make sacrifices of his interest."

"The casual connections we perceive are often matters of custom rather than reason."

"Patience and perseverance are the virtues of the wise."

"When we are struck by contradictions, we should examine our principles with the greatest care."

"It is more easy to admire virtue than to practice it."

"No inventions of man are so useful as those which obtain the public approbation and general esteem."

"The greatest of all human achievements is to understand our own understanding."

"An man destitute of imagination is incapable of becoming a poet or philosopher."

"Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind."

"The virtues are every where attended with a tenderness of sentiment which makes the heart grateful."

"Sound understanding is the first step towards virtue."

"The bulk of mankind are wholly incapable of any other study than that which relates to immediate practice."

"Healthy scepticism is the mark of a cultivated and refined intelligence."

"In every human composition, as in a well-harmonized musical piece, there should be a certain unity of character."

"The imagination of man is bounded, and the inventive faculty must have materials to work with."

"Health is without question the first requisite after morality."

"The sense of justice and injustice is not derived from nature, but from education and custom."

"To avoid all mistakes and absurdities, let us take a review of the principles from which any human knowledge must be derived."

"There is no time in human existence when man can claim to possess absolute certainty."

"The strength of a man's virtue should be measured by his inclinations, not by his achievements."

"An adventure of the mind is worth a thousand journeys of the body."

"We desire to know the truth, yet we are prone to believe what is agreeable to us."

"The man of learning and letters is more sensible of the strength and weakness of human nature."

"Wars are always allowed by those who counsel them, and those who wage them are ever ready to justify themselves."

"The most reasonable way to negotiate is through the principles of mutual benefit."

"It is the great business of learning to rectify the mistakes to which the imagination is subject."