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Quotation from Essays, Moral and Political (selection) by David Hume
“So great is the force of laws, and of particular forms of government, and so little dependence have they on the humours and tempers of men, that consequences almost as general and certain may sometimes be deduced from them, as any which the mathematical sciences afford us.”
Essays, Moral and Political (selection), That Politics May Be Reduced to a Science (John Long selection (London, early 20th century), Project Gutenberg text)
The thesis of the essay, against those who think the character of rulers matters more than the form of government.
Citation: "So great is the force of laws, and of particular forms of government, and so little dependence have they on the humours and tempers of men, that consequences almost as general and certain may sometimes be deduced from them, as any which the mathematical sciences afford us." — David Hume, Essays, Moral and Political (selection), That Politics May Be Reduced to a Science (John Long selection (London, early 20th century), Project Gutenberg text). (id hume-political-essays-q2)
Portrait: David Hume, Allan Ramsay, Public domain.
