Interpretation
What this David Hume quote asks you to notice
The operative phrase is “No action can be virtuous unless it proceeds from.” Read this as an ethical proposal rather than a decorative maxim. Ask what kind of person or action it commends, which competing duties it leaves unstated, and how the principle would look in a small decision today.
This page does not treat one sentence as a complete account of David Hume’s philosophy. It uses the quote as a reading prompt: identify the claim, test its limits, and follow the source before applying it as advice.
Source Lens
Follow the attribution, not just the image.
- Author
- David Hume
- Catalog source
- An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
- Record
674336e1f44700430b5743ab- Reading status
- The catalog gives a named work but not an edition, translator, page, or section. Use the title to locate the passage, then compare the surrounding argument and wording.
Attribution note: Philosophia’s public record supplies the wording, author, and source label. It does not specify an edition or translator. Before academic use or republication, verify the line in a complete edition and cite that edition directly.
About David Hume
David Hume (1711-1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, and essayist who became one of the most influential figures in Western philosophy through his radical empiricism and skepticism. Born in Edinburgh to a modest but noble family, Hume's ideas challenged traditional metaphysics and revolutionized our understanding of human knowledge and moral psychology. His masterwork, "A Treatise of Human Nature" (1739-40), written when he was in his twenties, attempted to introduce the experimental method into moral…
A three-step reflection
- Name the quality or duty the line appears to value.
- Test it against a case where two good obligations conflict.
- Translate the principle into one observable action rather than an intention.
Return to the exact wording after answering. If your conclusion could have been reached without reading the quote, look again for a distinction or assumption you missed.
Use this quote in Philosophia
Find David Hume in the app, save the line to a Virtue and character collection, and keep the source visible when you revisit it.
Use a widget or notification as the reminder, then open the app when the sentence deserves more than a glance. Compare it with another quote from the same thinker or school before deciding what it means for your day.