"There is no such thing as freedom of choice unless there is freedom to refuse."
"..all arguments concerning existence are founded on the relation of cause and effect; that our knowledge of that relation is derived entirely from experience; and all our experimental conclusions proceed upon the supposition that the future will be conformable to the past. .... Without the influence of custom, we should be entirely ignorant of every matter of fact beyond what is immediately present to the memory and senses."
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Source: 'Essays' (1741-2) 'Of Civil Liberty'
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More quotes by David Hume
"Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few."
"Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them."
"It is seldom, that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Slavery has so frightful an aspect to men accustomed to freedom, that it must steal upon them by degrees, and must disguise itself in a thousand shapes, in order to be received."
"A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence."
"When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities."