William Hazlitt Quotes - Page 21

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• His hypothesis goes to this - to make the common run of his readers fancy they can do all that can be done by genius, and to make the man of genius believe he can only do what is to be done by mechanical rules and systematic industry. This is not a very feasible scheme; nor is Sir Joshua sufficiently clear and explicit in his reasoning in support of it.

  William Hazlitt

  Running, Believe, Men

  William Hazlitt (1845). “Table Talk: Essays on Men and Manners”

  4 Copy quote

• We prefer ourselves to others, only because we a have more intimate consciousness and confirmed opinion of our own claims and merits than of any other person's.

  William Hazlitt

  Vanity, Merit, Opinion

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1466, Delphi Classics

  4 Copy quote

• The love of letters is the forlorn hope of the man of letters. His ruling passion is the love of fame.

  William Hazlitt

  Passion, Men, Letters

  William Hazlitt (1852). “Men and manners: sketches and essays”, p.237

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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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• 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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• If we are long absent from our friends, we forget them; if we are constantly with them, we despise them.

  William Hazlitt

  Friends, Long, Forget

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

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• If our hours were all serene, we might probably take almost as little note of them as the dial does of those that are clouded.

  William Hazlitt

  Peace, Doe, Littles

  William Hazlitt (1839). “Sketches and Essays”, p.69

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• If we wish to know the force of human genius, we should read Shakespeare. If we wish to see the insignificance of human learning, we may study his commentators.

  William Hazlitt

  Reading, Intelligence, Wish

  William Hazlitt (1924). “Essays”

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• The last sort I shall mention are verbal critics - mere word-catchers, fellows that pick out a word in a sentence and a sentence in a volume, and tell you it is wrong. The title of Ultra-Crepidarian critics has been given to a variety of this species.

  William Hazlitt

  Titles, Lasts, Catchers

  William Hazlitt (1822). “Table-talk: Or, Original Essays”, p.143

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• Vice is man's nature: virtue is a habit--or a mask.

  William Hazlitt

  Men, Vices, Virtue

  William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.527

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• Every one in a crowd has the power to throw dirt; none out of ten have the inclination.

  William Hazlitt

  Power, Crowds, Dirt

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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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• Shall I faint, now that I have poured out the spirit of my mind to the world, and treated many subjects with truth, with freedom, with power, because I have been followed with one cry of abuse ever since for not being a Government tool?

  William Hazlitt

  Government, Abuse, Mind

  William Hazlitt (1926). “Essays”

  4 Copy quote

• 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'

  9 Copy quote

• 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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• A woman's vanity is interested in making the object of her choice the god of her idolatry.

  William Hazlitt

  Vanity, Choices, Idolatry

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1871, 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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• Gallantry to women - the sure road to their favor - is nothing but the appearance of extreme devotion to all their wants and wishes, a delight in their satisfaction, and a confidence in yourself as being able to contribute toward it

  William Hazlitt

  Confidence, Courage, Women

  William Hazlitt (1852). “Men and manners: sketches and essays”, p.124

  12 Copy quote

• Knowledge is pleasure as well as power.

  William Hazlitt

  Pleasure, Wells

  William Hazlitt (1821). “Table-talk: Or Original Essays”, p.32

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• Believe all the good you can of everyone. Do not measure others by yourself. If they have advantages which you have not, let your liberality keep pace with their good fortune. Envy no one, and you need envy no one.

  William Hazlitt

  Believe, Envy, Needs

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• Kings ought never to be seen upon the stage. In the abstract, they are very disagreeable characters: it is only while living that they are 'the best of kings'. It is their power, their splendour, it is the apprehension of the personal consequences of their favour or their hatred that dazzles the imagination and suspends the judgement of their favourites or their vassals; but death cancels the bond of allegiance and of interest; and seen AS THEY WERE, their power and their pretensions look monstrous and ridiculous.

  William Hazlitt

  Kings, Character, Imagination

  William Hazlitt (1845). “Characters of Shakespeare's Plays”, p.158

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• The English (it must be owned) are rather a foul-mouthed nation.

  William Hazlitt

  Foul, Nations

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1248, Delphi Classics

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• Talent is the capacity of doing anything that depends on application and industry and it is a voluntary power, while genius is involuntary.

  William Hazlitt

  Genius, Talent, Capacity

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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

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• Reflection brakes men cowards. There is no object that can be put in competition with life, unless it is viewed through the medium of passion, and we are hurried away by the impulse of the moment.

  William Hazlitt

  Passion, Reflection, Men

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