QuoteProject
Eloquence, 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.
David Hume
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Eloquent speech can persuade emotions more than reason, capturing the audience's feelings and diminishing critical thinking.

In this quote, David Hume suggests that the power of eloquence lies in its ability to engage and stimulate the audience's emotions and desires rather than relying solely on rational argumentation. He warns that this form of persuasion can overshadow logical reasoning, leading listeners to be captivated by their feelings instead of engaging in thoughtful reflection.

Themes

EloquencePersuasionEmotionUnderstandingCommunication

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about the importance of community service, one might use this quote to emphasize the emotional impact of persuasive language.

More from David Hume

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
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.
David HumeRead
The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness
David HumeRead
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.
David HumeRead
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
... The idea of God, as meaning an infinitely intelligent, wise and good Being, arises from reflecting on the operations of our own mind, and augmenting, without limit, those qualities of goodness and wisdom.
David HumeRead

Similar quotes

Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain, our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain; awake but one, and in, what myriads rise!
Alexander PopeRead
It saddens me that Christians need to be reminded that awe is owed also to those who disagree with them, who believe otherwise than they do.
Marilynne RobinsonRead
He [God] watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son.
Saint PatrickRead
That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, and is the true theology.
Thomas PaineRead
The two aims of the Party are to conquer the whole surface of the earth and to extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought. There are therefore two great problems which the Party is concerned to solve. One is how to discover, against his will, what another human being is thinking, and the other is how to kill several hundred million people in a few seconds without giving warning beforehand.
George OrwellRead
Without restoring an ethos of social responsibility, there can be no meaningful and sustained economic recovery.
Jeffrey SachsRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.