David Hume

It is harder to avoid censure than to gain applause; for this may be done by one great or wise action in an age. But to escape censure a man must pass his whole life without saying or doing one ill or foolish thing.

David Hume

It is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.

David Hume

It is not reason which is the guide of life, but custom.

David Hume

It is on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most free and most popular.

David Hume

It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.

David Hume

It is still open for me, as well as you, to regulate my behavior, by my experience of past events.

David Hume

It were better, never to look beyond the present material world. By supposing it to contain the principle of its order within itself, we really assert it to be God; and the sooner we arrive at that divinity, the better.

David Hume

Liberty is a blessing so inestimable, that, wherever there appears any probability of recovering it, a nation may willingly run many hazards, and ought not even to repine at the greatest effusion of blood or dissipation of treasure.

David Hume

Liberty of any kind is never lost all at once.

David Hume

Liberty of thinking, and of expressing our thoughts, is always fatal to priestly power, and to those pious frauds on which it is commonly founded.

David Hume