Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/109

 Would any Man, that is walking, tread just as willingly on another's gouty Toes, whom he has no Quarrel with, as on the hard Flint and Pavement? There is here surely a Difference in the Case. We surely take into Consideration the Happiness and Misery of others, in weighing the several Motives of Action, and incline to the former, where no private Regards draw us to seek our own Promotion or Advantage by the Injury of our Fellow-Creatures. And if the Principles of Humanity are capable, in many Instances, of influencing our Actions, they must, at all Times, have some Authority over our Sentiments, and give us a general Approbation of what is useful to Society, and Blame of what is dangerous or pernicious. The Degrees of these Sentiments may be the Subject of Controversy, but the Reality of their Existence, one should think, must be admitted, in every Theory or System.

, absolutely malicious and spiteful, were there any such in Nature, must be worse than indifferent to the Images of Vice and Virtue. All his Sentiments must be inverted, and directly opposite to those, which prevail in the human Species. Whatever contributes to the Good of Mankind, as it crosses the constant Bent of his Wishes and Desires, must produce Uneasiness and Disapprobation; and on the contrary, whatever is the Source of Dis- Errata