William Hazlitt Quotes - Page 18

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• Though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes off the edge of admiration.

  William Hazlitt

  Idols, May, Admiration

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1464, Delphi Classics

  9 Copy quote

• To be happy, we must be true to nature and carry our age along with us.

  William Hazlitt

  Birthday, Time, Age

  7 Copy quote

• Dandyism is a variety of genius.

  William Hazlitt

  Genius, Dandyism, Variety

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• The present is an age of talkers, and not of doers; and the reason is, that the world is growing old. We are so far advanced in the Arts and Sciences, that we live in retrospect, and dote on past achievement.

  William Hazlitt

  Art, Past, Achievement

  'The Spirit of the Age' (1825) 'Mr Coleridge'

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• Humour is the making others act or talk absurdly and unconsciously; wit is the pointing out and ridiculing that absurdity consciously, and with more or less ill-nature.

  William Hazlitt

  Funny, Humour, Wit

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.670, Delphi Classics

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• It is not the passion of a mind struggling with misfortune, or the hopelessness of its desires, but of a mind preying on itself, and disgusted with, or indifferent to all other things.

  William Hazlitt

  Struggle, Passion, Mind

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.744, Delphi Classics

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• No young man ever thinks he shall die.

  William Hazlitt

  Men, Thinking, Young

  William Hazlitt (1845). “Table Talk: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things”, p.127

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• I like a friend the better for having faults that one can talk about.

  William Hazlitt

  Friendship, Faults

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1921, Delphi Classics

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• To impress the idea of power on others, they must be made in some way to feel it.

  William Hazlitt

  Ideas, Way, Made

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1105, Delphi Classics

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• A lively blockhead in company is a public benefit. Silence or dulness by the side of folly looks like wisdom.

  William Hazlitt

  Silence, Looks, Benefits

  William Hazlitt (1837). “Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].”, p.137

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• A man who does not endeavour to seem more than he is will generally be thought nothing of. We habitually make such large deductions for pretence and imposture that no real merit will stand against them. It is necessary to set off our good qualities with a certain air of plausibility and self-importance, as some attention to fashion is necessary.

  William Hazlitt

  Fashion, Real, Men

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1485, Delphi Classics

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• Any one may mouth out a passage with a theatrical cadence, or get upon stilts to tell his thoughts; but to write or speak with propriety and simplicity is a more difficult task. Thus it is easy to affect a pompous style, to use a word twice as big as the thing you want to express; it is not so easy to pitch upon the very word that exactly fits it.

  William Hazlitt

  Writing, Simplicity, Style

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1270, Delphi Classics

  7 Copy quote

• No one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves.

  William Hazlitt

  Perfection, Stealth, Approach

  William Hazlitt (1839). “Sketches and Essays by W. H. Now first collected [and edited] by his son”, p.255

  16 Copy quote

• What I mean by living to one's self is living in the world, as in it, not of it.

  William Hazlitt

  Mean, Self, World

  William Hazlitt (1859). “Table talk”, p.65

  4 Copy quote

• There are few things in which we deceive ourselves more than in the esteem we profess to entertain for our firends. It is little better than a piece of quackery. The truth is, we think of them as we please, that is, as they please or displease us.

  William Hazlitt

  Thinking, Hype, Pieces

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1472, Delphi Classics

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• The soil of friendship is worn out with constant use. Habit may still attach us to each other, but we feel ourselves fettered by it. Old friends might be compared to old married people without the tie of children.

  William Hazlitt

  Friendship, Children, Ties

  William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.493

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• The youth is better than the old age of friendship.

  William Hazlitt

  Friendship, Age, Youth

  William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.493

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• Habit in most cases hardens and encrusts by taking away the keener edge of our sensations: but does it not in others quicken and refine, by giving a mechanical facility and by engrafting an acquired sense?

  William Hazlitt

  Giving, Doe, Habit

  William Hazlitt (1859). “Table talk”

  9 Copy quote

• To get others to come into our ways of thinking, we must go over to theirs; and it is necessary to follow, in order to lead.

  William Hazlitt

  Thinking, Order, Way

  William Hazlitt (1913). “Selections from William Hazlitt”, Boston, New York etc. Ginn [c1913]

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• To a superior race of being the pretensions of mankind to extraordinary sanctity and virtue must seem... ridiculous.

  William Hazlitt

  Race, Ridiculous, Virtue

  William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.486

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• There is a heroism in crime as well as in virtue. Vice and infamy have their altars and their religion.

  William Hazlitt

  Vices, Heroism, Virtue

  William Hazlitt (1839). “Sketches and Essays”, p.39

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• The player envies only the player, the poet envies only the poet.

  William Hazlitt

  Player, Envy, Poet

  William Hazlitt (1839). “Sketches and Essays”, p.313

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• Our opinions are not our own, but in the power of sympathy. If a person tells us a palpable falsehood, we not only dare not contradict him, but we dare hardly disbelieve him to his face. A lie boldly uttered has the effect of truth for the instant.

  William Hazlitt

  Lying, Faces, Opinion

  William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.487

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• Popularity disarms envy in well-disposed minds. Those are ever the most ready to do justice to others who feel that the world has done them justice. When success has not this effect in opening the mind, it is a sign that it has been ill deserved.

  William Hazlitt

  Envy, Justice, Mind

  William Hazlitt (1823). “Characteristics: In the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims”, p.4

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• Want of principle is power. Truth and honesty set a limit to our efforts, which impudence and hypocrisy easily overleap.

  William Hazlitt

  Honesty, Power, Hypocrisy

  William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.487

  4 Copy quote

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