ultimately the foundation of our inference and conclusion.

There is no man so young and unexperienced, as not to have
formed, from observation, many general and just maxims
concerning human affairs and the conduct of life; but it must
be confessed, that, when a man comes to put these in practice,
he will be extremely liable to error, till time and farther
experience both enlarge these maxims, and teach him their
proper use and application. In every situation or incident,
there are many particular and seemingly minute circumstances,
which the man of greatest talent is, at first, apt to overlook,
though on them the justness of his conclusions, and
consequently the prudence of his conduct, entirely depend. Not
to mention, that, to a young beginner, the general observations
and maxims occur not always on the proper occasions, nor can be
immediately applied with due calmness and distinction. The
truth is, an unexperienced reasoner could be no reasoner at
all, were he absolutely unexperienced; and when we assign that
character to any one, we mean it only in a comparative sense,
and suppose him possessed of experience, in a smaller and more
imperfect degree.

Custom, then, is the great guide of human life. It is that principle
alone which renders our experience useful to us, and makes us expect,
for the future, a similar train of events with those which have appeared
in the past.

Without the influence of custom, we should be entirely ignorant of every
matter of fact beyond what is immediately present to the memory and
senses. We should never know how to adjust means to ends, or to employ