It's the birthday of the
man who said: "The truth springs from arguments among friends," and
"The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of
an oyster." That's Scottish philosopher David Hume (books by this author),
born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1711. While working as a librarian, he wrote the
six-volume History of England (1762), which became a bestseller and gave
him the financial independence to write and revise his philosophical treatises.
He wrote A Treatise of Human Nature (1740), Enquiries Concerning
Human Understanding (1748), and Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751).
He was a strict skeptic, and questioned all knowledge derived from the senses.
David Hume said, "Beauty is no quality in
things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and
each mind perceives a different beauty."
He also said, "Reading and sauntering and
lounging and dozing, which I call thinking, is my supreme happiness."
And,
"He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper but he is more excellent
who can suit his temper to any circumstances."
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