William Hazlitt Quotes - Page 22

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• There is something captivating in spirit and intrepidity, to which, we often yield as to a resistless power; nor can he reasonably expect, the confidence of others who too apparently distrusts himself.

  William Hazlitt

  Confidence, Yield, Spirit

  4 Copy quote

• Repose is as necessary in conversation as in a picture.

  William Hazlitt

  Conversation, Repose

  William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.483

  7 Copy quote

• Death puts an end to rivalship and competition. The dead can boast no advantage over us, nor can we triumph over them.

  William Hazlitt

  Competition, Triumph, Advantage

  William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.525

  5 Copy quote

• Nothing gives such a blow to friendship as the detecting another in an untruth. It strikes at the root of our confidence ever after.

  William Hazlitt

  Blow, Roots, Giving

  William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.488

  7 Copy quote

• Men of the greatest genius are not always the most prodigal of their encomiums. But then it is when their range of power is confined, and they have in fact little perception, except of their own particular kind of excellence.

  William Hazlitt

  Men, Perception, Excellence

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1465, Delphi Classics

  7 Copy quote

• There cannot be a surer proof of low origin, or of an innate meanness of disposition, than to be always talking and thinking of being genteel.

  William Hazlitt

  Thinking, Talking, Proof

  William Hazlitt (1859). “Table talk”

  21 Copy quote

• The look of a gentleman is little else than the reflection of the looks of the world.

  William Hazlitt

  Reflection, Gentleman, Looks

  4 Copy quote

• Grace in women has more effect than beauty. We sometimes see a certain fine self-possession, an habitual voluptuousness of character, which reposes on its own sensations and derives pleasure from all around it, that is more irresistible than any other attraction. There is an air of languid enjoyment in such persons, "in their eyes, in their arms, and their hands, and their face," which robs us of ourselves, and draws us by a secret sympathy towards them.

  William Hazlitt

  Character, Eye, Air

  William Hazlitt (1872). “Sketches and Essays: And Winterslow (essays Written There).”, p.365

  8 Copy quote

• The truth is, we pamper little griefs into great ones, and bear great ones as well as we can.

  William Hazlitt

  Grief, Littles, Bears

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1256, Delphi Classics

  7 Copy quote

• There are persons who are never easy unless they are putting your books and papers in order--that is, according to their notions of the matter--and hide things lest they should be lost, where neither the owner nor anybody else can find them. This is a sort of magpie faculty. If anything is left where you want it, it is called litter. There is a pedantry in housewifery, as well as in the gravest concerns. Abraham Tucker complained that whenever his maid servant had been in his library, he could not see comfortably to work again for several days.

  William Hazlitt

  Book, Order, Library

  11 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

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  4 Copy quote

• 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

• 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

  5 Copy quote

• We grow tired of ourselves, much more of other people.

  William Hazlitt

  Tired, People, Grows

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

  16 Copy quote

• Every man, in judging of himself, is his own contemporary. He may feel the gale of popularity, but he cannot tell how long it will last. His opinion of himself wants distance, wants time, wants numbers, to set it off and confirm it.

  William Hazlitt

  Distance, Men, Numbers

  William Hazlitt (1845). “Table Talk: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things”, p.38

  4 Copy quote

• Every man depends on the quantity of sense, wit, or good manners he brings into society for the reception he meets with in it.

  William Hazlitt

  Men, Good Man, Society

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1227, Delphi Classics

  4 Copy quote

• 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

• To write a genuine familiar or truly English style is to write as anyone would speak in common conversation, who had a thorough command and choice of words, or who could discourse with ease, force, and perspicuity, setting aside all pedantic and oratorical flourishes.

  William Hazlitt

  Writing, Choices, Style

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

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  8 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

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  4 Copy quote

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