“Like the winds that we come we know not whence and blow whither soever they list, the forces of society are derived from an obscure and distant origin. They arise before the date of philosophy, from the instincts, not the speculations of men.”
Author details
Related authors
Other Adam Ferguson Quotes
Man, in his animal capacity, is qualified to subsist in every climate.
Adam Ferguson 
55% of people like this quote
The artist finds, that the more he can confine his attention to a particular part of any work, his productions are the more perfect, and grow under his hands in the greater quantities.
Adam Ferguson
54% of people like this quote
Like the winds that we come we know not whence and blow whither soever they list, the forces of society are derived from an obscure and distant origin. They arise before the date of philosophy, from the instincts, not the speculations of men.
Adam Ferguson
54% of people like this quote
The history of mankind is confined within a limited period, and from every quarter brings an intimation that human affairs have had a beginning.
Adam Ferguson
53% of people like this quote
Every step and every movement of the multitude, even in what are termed enlightened ages, are made with equal blindness to the future; and nations stumble upon establishments, which are indeed the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design.
Adam Ferguson
53% of people like this quote