PhilosophyQuotes for March 9, 2001:

"'TIS a kind of blasphemy to imagine that any created being can disturb the order of the world, or invade the business of Providence!"

"A man may disturb society no doubt, and thereby incur the displeasure of the Almighty: But the government of the world is placed far beyond his reach and violence."

"A MAN who retires from life does no harm to society: He only ceases to do good; which, if it is an injury, is of the lowest kind. -- All our obligations to do good to society seem to imply something reciprocal. I receive the benefits of society, and therefore ought to promote its interests; but when I withdraw myself altogether from society, can I be bound any longer?"

-David Hume (1711-1776), Essays on Suicide and the Immortality of the Soul (1783)

Hume's Essays on Suicide and the Immortality of the Soul is available online at Amazon.com.