An Essay on the History of Civil SocietyJ.J. Tourneisen, 1789 - 424 pages |
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
An Essay on the History of Civil Society. By Adam Ferguson ... Adam Ferguson Affichage du livre entier - 1768 |
Expressions et termes fréquents
admiration againſt ages animal animofity apprehenfion arife arts becauſe beſt beſtow cafe character Charlevoix circumſtances civil commercial arts confequence confideration confidered confifts conftitution conqueft corruption defire difpofition diftinction diftinguiſhed effects employed enemy equally eſtabliſhments exercife fafe fafety fame favage fays fcene fecure feem feldom fenfe fentiments feparate ferve fervile fhould firſt fituation flaves fociety fome fometimes force fortune fource fovereign fpecies fpirit ftate ftation ftill fubfiftence fubject fuch fuffer fufficient fuperior fuppofed furniſh fyftem greateſt happineſs hiftory himſelf honour human increaſe intereft itſelf juftice leaſt lefs mafter mankind manners meaſure ment mind moft monarchy moſt muft muſt nations nature neceffary numbers obferved object occafions oppofition pacific citizen paffions party perfonal pleaſure poffeffed poffeffion political prefent prefervation principle profeffions progrefs purfuits purpoſe raiſed reafon refpect Romans rude ſcene Sparta ſtate talents thefe themſelves theſe thofe thoſe tion underſtanding uſe virtue weakneſs wealth whofe
Fréquemment cités
Page 1 - The latter being destined to act, extend their operations as their powers increase: they exhibit a progress in what they perform, as well as in the faculties they acquire. This progress in the case of man is continued to a greater extent than in that of any other animal. Not only the individual advances from infancy to manhood, but the species itself from rudeness to civilization.
Page 389 - Heroes are much the fame, the point's agreed, From Macedonia's madman to the Swede...
Page 38 - But it is vain to expect that we can give to the multitude of a people a sense of union among themselves, without admitting hostility to those who oppose them. Could we at once, in the case of any nation, extinguish the emulation which is excited from abroad, we should probably break or weaken the bands of society at home, and close...
Page 348 - By having separated the arts of the clothier and the tanner, we are the better supplied with shoes and with cloth. But to separate the arts which form the citizen and the statesman, the arts of policy and war, is an attempt to dismember the human character, and to destroy those very arts we mean to improve.
Page 277 - But if many parts in the practice of every art, and in the detail of every department, require no abilities, or actually tend to contract and to limit the views of the mind, there are others which lead to general reflections, and to enlargement of thought. Even in manufacture, the genius of the master, perhaps, is cultivated, while that of the inferior workman lies waste. The statesman may have a wide comprehension of human affairs, while the tools he employs are ignorant of the system in which they...
Page 395 - The barbarian is frequently independent, from a continuance of the same circumstances, or because he has courage and a sword. But good policy alone can provide for the regular administration of justice, or constitute a force in the state, which is ready on every occasion to defend the rights of its members.
Page 276 - Those establishments arose from successive improvements that were made, without any sense of their general effect; and they bring human affairs to a state of complication, which the greatest reach of capacity with which human nature was ever adorned, could not have projected; nor even when the whole is carried into execution, can it be comprehended in its full extent.
Page 126 - The field in which they have planted, like the district over which they are accustomed to hunt, is claimed as a property by the nation, but is not parcelled in lots to its members. They go forth in parties to prepare the ground, to plant and to reap. The harvest is gathered into the public granary, and from thence, at stated times, is divided into shares for the maintenance of separate families.
Page 14 - Man may mistake the objects of his pursuit; he may misapply his industry, and misplace his improvements. If under a sense of such possible errors, he would find a standard by which to judge of his own proceedings, and arrive at the best state of his nature, he cannot find it perhaps in the practice of any individual, or of any nation whatever; not even in the sense of the majority, or the prevailing opinion of his kind. He must look for it in the best conceptions of his understanding, in the best...
Page 187 - 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. If Cromwell said that a man never mounts higher than when he knows not whither he is going...