QuoteProject
Tho' there be no such Thing as Chance in the World; our Ignorance of the real Ccause of any Event has the same Influence on the Understanding, and begets a like Species of Belief or Opinion.
David Hume
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote suggests that our lack of understanding about events leads us to believe in chance, despite there being no actual randomness.

David Hume emphasizes the idea that while true chance may not exist in the world, our ignorance regarding the causes of events makes us attribute outcomes to chance. This highlights the limitations of human understanding and how it shapes our beliefs and opinions about the occurrences in life.

Themes

ChanceIgnoranceBeliefUnderstandingEvent

In practice

Example use cases

When discussing the unpredictability of life events during a speech.

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
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 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

Similar quotes

This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
Generally the officers of the army were indifferent whether the annexation [of Texas] was consummated or not; but not so all of them. For myself, I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory.
Ulysses S. GrantRead
You say that you are just a body, but inside of you is something greater than the Universe.
Al-ShafiiRead
The splendors of the firmament of time May be eclipsed, but are extinguished not; Like stars to their appointed height they climb And death is a low mist which cannot blot The brightness it may veil.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
Is it my business if somebody wants to burn a flag?...No, it's not...That's called logic and it'll help us all evolve.
Bill HicksRead
The private control of credit is the modern form of slavery.
Upton SinclairRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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