Your corn is ripe today; mine will be so tomorrow. 'Tis profitable for us both, that I should labour with you today, and that you should aid me tomorrow.
David HumeRead
Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Beauty is subjective and depends on individual perception rather than inherent qualities.
David Hume's quote emphasizes that beauty is not an objective property of objects, but rather a perception shaped by the observer's mind. This suggests that different individuals will find beauty in different places, influenced by their unique experiences and perspectives, making beauty a deeply personal and varied experience.
Themes
BeautyPerceptionSubjectivityMindPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about art, one might quote this to illustrate how different people interpret the same painting in diverse ways.
More from David Hume
All quotes →Eloquence, at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection, but addresses itself entirely to the desires and affections, captivating the willing hearers, and subduing their understanding.
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All that belongs to human understanding, in this deep ignorance and obscurity, is to be sceptical, or at least cautious, and not to admit of any hypothesis whatever, much less of any which is supported by no appearance of probability.
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The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness
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There is a very remarkable inclination in human nature to bestow on external objects the same emotions which it observes in itself, and to find every where those ideas which are most present to it.
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To have recourse to the veracity of the supreme Being, in order to prove the veracity of our senses, is surely making a very unexpected circuit.
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