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
It is certain that the easy and obvious philosophy will always, with the generality of mankind, have preference above the accurate.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People often prefer simple and obvious ideas over complex truths.
David Hume highlights a tendency among people to favor philosophies that are straightforward and easily understood, rather than engaging with more nuanced or accurate but complicated ideas. This preference shapes public discourse and the acceptance of knowledge within society, suggesting that simplicity often triumphs over depth in popular thought.
Themes
PhilosophyTruthSimplicityUnderstandingKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used to initiate a discussion about the nature of belief and perception in a philosophy class.
More from David Hume
All quotes βEloquence, 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.
David HumeRead
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