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
To be a philosophical sceptic is, in a man of letters, the first and most essential to being a sound, believing Christian.
Interpretation
Philosophical skepticism is essential for a thoughtful and authentic faith in Christianity.
David Hume suggests that to engage deeply with faith, one must first adopt a skeptical approach, questioning and examining beliefs. This skepticism leads to a more robust understanding and acceptance of Christian faith, as it encourages individuals to reflect carefully on their beliefs rather than accept them blindly.
In practice
During a discussion on faith at a university lecture, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of questioning one's beliefs.
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.
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.
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.
The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness
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.
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.
My experience of the world is that things left to themselves don't get right.
To test a perfect theory with imperfect instruments did not impress the Greek philosophers as a valid way to gain knowledge.
No one who errs unwillingly is evil.
[A]s it must be admitted that the remedy under the Constitution lies where it has been marked out by the Constitution; and that no appeal can be consistently made from that remedy by those who were and still profess to be parties to it, but the appeal to the parties themselves having an authority above the Constitution or to the law of nature & of nature's God.
Man only becomes independent of this physical world when he learns to consider the objects around him as symbols. He must, for this reason, seek to acquire a moral relationship to them.
I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.
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