"Belief is nothing but a more vivid, lively, forcible, firm, steady conception of an object, than what the imagination alone is ever able to attain."

Imagination

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Imagination as articulated by David Hume. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Imagination provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About David Hume

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist and essayist who is known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beginning with A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), Hume strove to create a naturalistic science of man that examined the psychological basis of human nature. Following John Locke, Hume rejected the existence of innate ideas, holding that all our ideas derive ultimately from impressions, but in his fork he distinguished relations of ideas, known a priori, from matters of fact, whose knowledge rests on experience. This places him in the empiricist tradition of Locke and George Berkeley, while drawing his experimental method from Francis Bacon.

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More by David Hume

"Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous those in philosophy only ridiculous."

— David Hume
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"The advantages found in history seem to be of three kinds, as it amuses the fancy, as it improves the understanding, and as it strengthens virtue."

— David Hume
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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."

— David Hume
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"Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few."

— David Hume
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More about Imagination

"I've been to strip clubs where the dancers have these whole routines that they create just for the wow factor and to say, 'Look how strong and physically fit I am.' Most women couldn't do it, and it's not necessarily sexual. It's just a performance."

— Megalyn Echikunwoke
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"Panic is a sudden desertion of us, and a going over to the enemy of our imagination."

— Christian Nestell Bovee
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"Our imaginations are strong as children. Sometimes they get shoved aside, these imaginations. They get dusty and mildewed with age. The imagination is a muscle that has to be put to use or it shrivels."

— Julianna Baggott
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"A visionary sees the unseen and knows a single spark of imagination can ignite the world."

— Richard Bach
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