Hume, David

"Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them."

"A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence."

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

"The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of."

"Nothing is more useful than for the sciences and liberal arts to be held in esteem."

"No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind that its falsehood would be more miraculous."

"Ambition, avarice, personal animosity, party interests are the source of all factions."

"There is no method of reasoning more common and yet more blameable than in the following."

"All knowledge degenerates into probability."

"Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man."

"The three philosophical principles which regulate society are enlightened self-interest, moral sentiment, and the natural constitution of the mind."

"Examine well your blood, before you blame others of dulness."

"I never asserted so absurd an opinion as that anything might arise without a cause."

"The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster."

"The most intrepid warriors are generally the most superstitious."

"Morals and criticism are not so properly the objects of the understanding as of taste and sentiment."

"Money is not, properly speaking, one of the subjects of commerce; but only the instrument which men have agreed upon to facilitate the exchange of commodities."

"The rules of morality are not conclusions of our reason."

"Thus the empire of all emperors is nothing but custom and opinion."

"Some people are born to be happy."

"Truth springing from well-conducted investigation of phenomena and their relation by the scientific method is the safeguard against superstition."

"Is there any better way of thawing out the cold in human hearts than music?"

"Avarice, the spur of industry, is so obstinate and violent a passion, that it can never be softened by the consciousness of injustice."

"Generally speaking, the errors and follies of the mind are objected to logic."

"A true friend is the greatest of all blessings."

"If we take in 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."

"The sweetest morsel of life is the conviction that others believe in you."

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear."

"I hate disagreement and controversy so much that I am very much inclined to believe whatever I am told."

"Sudden joys and peace of mind are not what we should expect from great and sublime pursuits."