David Hume Quotes

Believe half of what you see and only some of what you hear, unless you hear it from me.

People should be more passive with what they consider trustworthy.

You can never trust what you read.

No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority.

There can be no doubt that distrust of words is less harmful than unwarranted trust in them

When anyone tells me that he saw a dead man restored to life, I immediately consider with myself whether it be more probable that this person should either deceive or be deceived or that the fact which he relates should really have happened. I weigh the one miracle against the other and according to the superiority which I discover, I pronounce my decision. Always I reject the greater miracle. If the falsehood of his testimony would be more miraculous than the event which he relates, then and not till then, can he pretend to command my belief or opinion.

I am bound to tell what I am told, but not in every case to believe it.

Ah! yes, I know: those who see me rarely trust my word: I must look too intelligent to keep it.

I respect faith, but doubt is what gives you an education.

Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty.

First of all - I only believe what I see.

If I tell you a story, you can choose to believe me, or you can question it.

Trust the tale, not the teller.

A fact never went into partnership with a miracle. Truth scorns the assistance of wonders. A fact will fit every other fact in the universe, and that is how you can tell whether it is or is not a fact. A lie will not fit anything except another lie.

Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?

Facts from paper are not the same as facts from people. The reliability of the people giving you the facts is as important as the facts themselves.

Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.

The act of witnessing is important to me; somebody's got to tell the truth, you know what I mean?

Namely, we have no right to believe a thing true because everybody says so unless there are good grounds for believing that some one person at least has the means of knowing what is true, and is speaking the truth so far as he knows it.

The most difficult thing for a manager to determine is when a fact is really a fact.

Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can’t be taken on its own merits.

Credulity without enquiry is a sure way to deceive oneself.

One of the first things we should teach every student is not to believe everything they read and hear.

If you believe everything you read, better not read.

In my opinion, it helps enormously to know why something is true, rather than being told it is true, for why should you believe me? Never believe anything on the authority of a single person but seek confirmation — and reason is the best confirmation