Context

This line was written by David Hume in the early pages of his philosophical book, A Enquiry Into Human Understanding, published in 1748.

Put your thinking caps on, gang. In An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume sets out to explain how human beings get their knowledge of the world. On top of that, he tries to figure out what should and shouldn't count as legit knowledge. For example, he thinks that humans should really only believe things about the world that are directly observable and testable, like the effects of trying to do a handstand on a treadmill.

After all, Jesus convinced people to follow him by performing miracles that they could all see with their own eyes. So Hume takes this logic one step further and says that, even today, people shouldn't believe in Christianity unless there are miracles to back it up. That said, he might have believed in miracles if he'd lived long enough to see this guy.

Where you've heard it

There aren't any famous movies or novels where you're likely to hear this line quoted, although you might have heard it from some friend who really doesn't like religious people. In either case, ol' Humey has probably found his way into your life at one point or another just like glitter finds its way into everything you own. After all, he's the guy to thank for the idea that we should base our knowledge on stuff we can actually see with our own eyes, instead of reading it in the Bible. Then again, there are some people who'd hate Hume for this same reason, so we're gonna play it safe here and say he was influential—for better or worse.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Your level of pretentiousness here is gonna depend on whether you quote Hume word for word, or if you just give someone the gist of it. For example, if you just said something like, "I'd be happy to believe in Jesus if he showed up right now and performed a miracle," that'd be non-pretentious. But then again, no one would probably know you were quoting anyone at all, which kind of misses the point. That said, be prepared for some eye-rolling if you stick with Hume's original, old-timey phrasing.