As numerous and civilized societies cannot subsist without government, so government is entirely useless without an exact obedience.
 David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1738). copy citation

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Author David Hume
Source A Treatise of Human Nature
Topic obedience society
Date 1738
Language English
Reference
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Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4705/4705-h/4705-h.htm

Context

“and that besides the convulsions, which always attend revolutions, such a practice tends directly to the subversion of all government, and the causing an universal anarchy and confusion among mankind. As numerous and civilized societies cannot subsist without government, so government is entirely useless without an exact obedience. We ought always to weigh the advantages, which we reap from authority, against the disadvantages; and by this means we shall become more scrupulous of putting in practice the doctrine of resistance.” source