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
For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe anything but the perception.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the nature of self-awareness and perception, suggesting that our understanding of ourselves is tied to the sensory experiences we have.
David Hume's quote emphasizes that our identity and consciousness are fundamentally intertwined with our sensory perceptions. He argues that whenever we introspect, we are met not with an abstract self, but with various perceptions—such as feelings of warmth, emotions like love or hate, and sensory experiences that shape our understanding of existence. This perspective questions the notion of a static self and highlights the significance of experiences in defining who we are.
Themes
SelfPerceptionConsciousnessIdentityExperience
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of consciousness, this quote can illustrate how sensory experiences define our identities.
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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