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 voice of nature and experience seems plainly to oppose the selfish theory.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Hume argues that both nature and personal experiences contradict selfish theories of human behavior.
David Hume suggests that the natural world and our personal experiences reveal truths about human behavior that often contradict the notion that individuals act solely out of self-interest. This reflection highlights a broader understanding of morality and social interaction that encompasses more altruistic behaviors influenced by our connection to others and the world around us.
Themes
NatureExperienceSelfishnessMoralityHuman Behavior
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about ethics and morality, one might reference Hume's quote to emphasize the importance of community and altruism.
More from David Hume
All quotes βEloquence, 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
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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.
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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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