David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), part 10
“

The whole earth, believe me ... is cursed and polluted. A perpetual war is kindled amongst all living creatures. Necessity, hunger, want, stimulate the strong and courageous: Fear, anxiety, terror, agitate the weak and infirm. The first entrance into life gives anguish to the new-born infant and to its wretched parent: Weakness, impotence, distress, attend each stage of that life: and it is at last finished in agony and horror.

— David Hume on Wild animal suffering

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The whole earth, believe me ... is cursed and polluted. A perpetual war is kindled amongst all living creatures. Necessity, hunger, want, stimulate the strong and courageous: Fear, anxiety, terror, agitate the weak and infirm. The first entrance into life gives anguish to the new-born infant and to its wretched parent: Weakness, impotence, distress, attend each stage of that life: and it is at last finished in agony and horror." in the context of "David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), part 10" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "Wild animal suffering" (H) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
David Hume

About David Hume

David Hume (7 May 1711, N.S. April 26, O.S. – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist and essayist.