116 quotes
During such calm sunshine of the mind, these spectres of false divinity never make their appearance.
The Natural History of Religion (1757)
Morals and criticism are not so properly objects of the understanding as of taste and sentiment.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
If we reason a priori, anything may appear able to produce anything.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
Nothing appears more surprising to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers.
Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary (1741)
Where men are the most sure and arrogant, they are commonly the most mistaken, and have there given reins to passion, without that proper deliberation and suspense, which can alone secure them from the grossest absurdities.
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751)
In all ages of the world, priests have been enemies to liberty; and it is certain, that this steady conduct of theirs must have been founded on fixed reasons of interest and ambition.
Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary (1741)
In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral evidence. A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
Poets themselves, tho' liars by profession, always endeavour to give an air of truth to their fictions…
By liberty, then, we can only mean a power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.
Hear the verbal protestations of all men: Nothing so certain as their religious tenets. Examine their lives: You will scarcely think that they repose the smallest confidence in them.
The Natural History of Religion (1757)
The more exquisite any good is, of which a small specimen is afforded us, the sharper is the evil, allied to it; and few exceptions are found to this uniform law of nature.
The Natural History of Religion (1757)
He is happy, whose circumstances suit his temper; but he is more excellent, who can suit his temper to any circumstances.
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751)
In vain, therefore, should we pretend to determine any single event, or infer any cause or effect, without the assistance of observation and experience.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
I have expos'd myself to the enmity of all metaphysicians, logicians, mathematicians, and even theologians; and can I wonder at the insults I must suffer?
Custom, then, is the great guide of human life.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
Even bear-baiting was esteemed heathenish and unchristian: the sport of it, not the inhumanity, gave offence.
The whole is a riddle, an aenigma, an inexplicable mystery. Doubt, uncertainty, suspence of judgment appear the only result of our most accurate scrutiny, concerning this subject.
The Natural History of Religion (1757)
Eloquence, when at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection; but addressing itself entirely to the fancy or the affections, captivates the willing hearers, and subdues their understanding.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
THERE is no method of reasoning more common, and yet none more blameable, than, in philosophical disputes, to endeavour the refutation of any hypothesis, by a pretence of its dangerous consequences to religion and morality.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)