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
But in many orders of beauty, particularly those of the finer arts, it is requisite to employ much reasoning, in order to feel the proper sentiment; and a false relish may frequently be corrected by argument and reflection. There are just grounds to conclude, that moral beauty partakes of this latter species, and demands the assistance of our intellectual faculties, in order to give it a suitable influence on the human mind.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding beauty in art requires intellectual engagement and reflection rather than just emotional response.
David Hume's quote highlights the complexity of experiencing beauty in the arts, suggesting that true appreciation often necessitates reasoning and reflection. Rather than simply relying on immediate emotional reactions, Hume argues that one must engage intellectually with art to cultivate a deeper understanding and appreciation of its moral and aesthetic qualities.
Themes
BeautyArtIntellectReflectionEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on aesthetics, one might quote Hume to emphasize the importance of intellectual engagement with art.
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.
David HumeRead
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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