The Natural History of Religion Quotes

“As every inquiry which regards religion is of the utmost importance, there are two questions in particular which challenge our attention, to wit, that concerning its foundation in reason, and that concerning it origin in human nature.”
― David Hume, The Natural History Of Religion

“There is an universal tendency amongst mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice and good-will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us. Hence the frequency and beauty of the prosopopoeia in poetry, where trees, mountains and streams are personified, and the inanimate parts of nature acquire sentiment and passion. (Section 3, paragraph 2).”
― David Hume, The Natural History of Religion

“There is a great difference between historical facts and speculative opinions ; nor is the knowledge of the one propagated in the same manner with that of the other”
― David Hume , The Natural History of Religion

“What age or period of life is the most addicted to superstition? The weakest and most timid. What sex? The same answer must be given.”
― David Hume, The Natural History of Religion

“What age or period of life is the most addicted to superstition? The
weakest and most timid. What sex? The same answer must be given.”
― David Hume, The Natural History of Religion

“The Atheist says he knows nothing of the “cause” of the universe, and therefore has nothing to say about Deity except that he perceives the idea to be a human invention: the Pantheist asserts that the “cause” is within the universe—an unadventurous truism enough, when we agree that “universe” means “everything”—and then proceeds to label the universe “God”, without pretending to know anything of the nature of the mystery he has named.”
― David Hume, The Natural History of Religion