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
Superstition is an enemy to civil liberty.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Superstition can hinder freedom and progress in society.
In this quote, David Hume suggests that superstition poses a threat to civil liberty because it encourages irrational beliefs and behaviors that can restrict individual freedoms and societal development. By relying on superstitions instead of reason and evidence, individuals and societies may become constrained by unfounded fears and limitations, impeding personal and collective growth.
Themes
SuperstitionCivil LibertyFreedomReasonIrrationality
In practice
Example use cases
In a public speech advocating for scientific education, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of reason over superstition.
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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