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The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster. — David Hume

Essay

The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.

David Hume
1776
★ 3.8
Provenance
Current citation
Hume, David. "Of Suicide." Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary: Volumes 1 and 2, edited by Tom L. Beauchamp and Mark A Box. Oxford University Press, 2022, pt. 3, no. 9.
Original citation
Hume, David, [published anonymously]. "Of Suicide." Essays on Suicide and The Immortality of the Soul, Ascribed to the Late David Hume, Esq. Unknown Publisher, 1777.

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The time will come when this universe and nature herself will be no more. And just as of very great human kingdoms and empires and of their marvelous exploits, which were so very famous in other ages, there remains no sign of fame whatsoever, so too of the entire world, and of the infinite vicissitudes and calamities of all created things, no single trace will remain, but a naked silence and a most profound quiet will fill the immensity of space. Thus, this stupendous and frightening mystery of universal existence, before it can be declared or understood, will vanish and be lost.

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