“The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.”
Source: On Suicide
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David Hume 138
Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian 1711–1776Related quotes
“He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.”
Polite Conversation (1738), Dialogue 2
“A thought often endures for a time much greater than the whole life of the man who thought it.”
Source: Thinking and Destiny (1946), Ch. 4 : Operation of the Law of Thought, p. 75
Context: A thought has no size in the physical sense but is vast as compared to the physical acts and objects into which it is later precipitated. The power of a thought is enormous and superior to all the successive physical acts, objects, and events that body forth its energy. A thought often endures for a time much greater than the whole life of the man who thought it.
“Nothing is of greater importance than the right early instruction of youth.”
History of the State of New York By John Romeyn Brodhead, pg 508 : 1660 on the education of Youth.
Source: Vamps and Tramps (1994), "No Law in the Arena: A Pagan Theory of Sexuality", p. 51
Context: Campus speech codes, that folly of the navel-gazing left, have increased the appeal of the right. Ideas must confront ideas. When hurt feelings and bruised egos are more important than the unfettered life of the mind, the universities have committed suicide.
Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 181
“The fate of animals is of far greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous.”
“Man has no greater enemy than himself.”
I have acted contrary to my sentiments and inclination; throughout our whole lives we do what we never intended, and what we proposed to do, we leave undone.
As quoted in An Examination of the Advantages of Solitude and of Its Operations (1808) by Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann
“The important business of man is life, and the important business of life is death.”
Letter of advice to British diplomat Tom Fletcher's son. https://twitter.com/TFletcher/status/1033597850729570304
2000s, 2008