Date: 1742

"The mind, unexercised, finds every delight insipid and loathsome; and ere yet the body, full of noxious humours, feels the torment of its multiplied diseases, your nobler part is sensible of the invading poison, and seeks in vain to relieve its anxiety by new pleasures, which still augment the f...

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

"I need not tell you, that, by this eager pursuit of pleasure, you more and more expose yourself to fortune and accidents, and rivet your affections on external objects, which chance may, in a moment, ravish from you."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

"So engaging are the sentiments of humanity, that they brighten up the very face of sorrow, and operate like the sun, which, shining on a dusky cloud or falling rain, paints on them the most glorious colours which are to be found in the whole circle of nature."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

"As harmonious colours mutually give and receive a lustre by their friendly union; so do these ennobling sentiments of the human mind."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

" But what supreme joy in the victories over vice as well as misery, when, by virtuous example or wise exhortation, our fellow-creatures are taught to govern their passions, reform their vices, and subdue their worst enemies, which inhabit within their own bosoms?"

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742

"What satisfaction, when he looks within, to find the most turbulent passions tuned to just harmony and concord, and every jarring sound banished from this enchanting music!"

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742, 1777

"As a stream necessarily follows the several inclinations of the ground, on which it runs; so are the ignorant and thoughtless part of mankind actuated by their natural propensities"

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742, 1777

"The fabric and constitution of our mind no more depends on our choice, than that of our body."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1742, 1777

"Such are effectually excluded from all pretensions to philosophy, and the medicine of the mind, so much boasted."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"When we reflect on our past sentiments and affections, our thought is a faithful mirror, and copies its objects truly; but the colours which it employs are faint and dull, in comparison of those in which our original perceptions were clothed."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)