A Theologico-Political Treatise

Men would never be superstitious if they could govern all their circumstancesby set rules or if they were always favoured by fortune but being frequentlydriven ... » 

Men would never be superstitious if they could govern all their circumstancesby set rules or if they were always favoured by fortune but being frequentlydriven into straits where rules are useless and being often kept fluctuatingpitiably between hope and fear by the uncertainty of fortunes greedily covetedfavours they are consequently for the most part very prone to credulity. Thehuman mind is readily swayed this way or that in times of doubt especiallywhen hope and fear are struggling for the mastery though usually it isboastful overconfident and vain. «