This avidity alone, of acquiring goods and possessions for ourselves and our nearest friends, is insatiable, perpetual, universal, and directly destructive of society.

Hume is describing a basic human drive—acquisitiveness directed toward oneself and one’s close circle—as effectively limitless (“insatiable”) and enduring (“perpetual”). Left unchecked, he argues, this impulse is not merely a private vice but a social solvent: if everyone pursues goods for self and kin without restraint, cooperation collapses into conflict over scarce resources, and the conditions for stable community life are undermined. The remark fits Hume’s broader moral and political thought, where social order depends on conventions and institutions (justice, property rules, government) that channel partial self-interest into predictable, mutually beneficial patterns. The quote thus frames greed/partiality as a problem that society must manage rather than wish away.