"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."

History

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of History as articulated by David Hume. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on History 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

"A purpose, an intention, a design, strikes everywhere even the careless, the most stupid thinker."

— David Hume
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"Heaven and hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad. But the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue."

— David Hume
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"The corruption of the best things gives rise to the worst."

— David Hume
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"Nothing endears so much a friend as sorrow for his death. The pleasure of his company has not so powerful an influence."

— David Hume
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More about History

"I was determined to achieve the total freedom that our history lessons taught us we were entitled to, no matter what the sacrifice."

— Rosabeth Moss Kanter
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"Kindness is the invisible thread that binds all kindred spirits together. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history — an essential principle for the reflective life."

— Richard Bach
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"I have always been amazed at the way an ordinary observer lends so much more credence and attaches so much more importance to waking events than to those occurring in dreams... Man... is above all the plaything of his memory."

— Andre Breton
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"This is what I wanted. They tell me that London is the best field in history. I wanted to be part of that. Because everyone will be there it will be a wonderful challenge for me. You can see the best runners, how they look, how they run. For me to beat the best is what counts."

— Haile Gebrselassie
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