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
The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness. For this were arts invented, sciences cultivated, laws ordained, and societies modeled, by the most profound wisdom of patriots and legislators. Even the lonely savage, who lies exposed to the inclemency of the elements and the fury of wild beasts, forgets not, for a moment, this grand object of his being.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The ultimate goal of all human efforts is to achieve happiness.
David Hume emphasizes that happiness is the fundamental purpose behind all human endeavors, including the creation of arts, sciences, and societal structures. Even in isolation, the pursuit of happiness remains a central aspect of human existence, suggesting its importance across all contexts of life.
Themes
HappinessHuman IndustryPursuitPurposeSociety
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about finding one's purpose in life.
More from David Hume
All quotes →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.
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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.
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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.
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Happiness lies not in happiness but only in the attempt to achieve it.
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