Quote#Beauty
Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the…
Quote byDavid Hume · 1711–1776
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary (1741-2; 1748), Part I, Essay 23: Of The Standard of Taste.
English (original)
Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty. One person may even perceive deformity, where another is sensible of beauty; and every individual ought to acquiesce in his own sentiment, without pretending to regulate those of others.
— David Hume
More from David Hume
The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.
A wise man's kingdom is his own breast: or, if he ever looks farther, it will only be to the judgment of a select few, who are free from prejudices, and capable of examining his work.
The sense of justice and injustice is not deriv'd from nature, but arises artificially... from education, and human conventions.
Does a man of sense run after every silly tale of hobgoblins or fairies, and canvass particularly the evidence? I never knew anyone, that examined and deliberated about nonsense who did not believe it before the end of his enquiries.
The same good sense, that directs men in the ordinary occurrences of life, is not hearkened to in religious matters, which are supposed to be placed altogether above the cognizance of human reason.
As to the Approbation or Esteem of those Blockheads who call themselves the Public, & whom a Bookseller, a Lord, a Priest, or a Party can guide, I do most heartily despise it.