133 Quotes & Sayings By William Hazlitt

Poetry is only the highest eloquence of passion, the most vivid form of expression that can be given to our conception of anything, whether pleasurable or painful, mean or dignified, delightful or distressing. It is the perfect coincidence of the image and the words with the feeling we have, and of which we cannot get rid in any other way, that gives an instant "satisfaction to the thought." This is equally the origin of wit and fancy, of comedy and tragedy, of the sublime and pathetic. William Hazlitt

The world dread nothing so much as being convinced of their errors. William Hazlitt

The world loves to be amused by hollow professions, to be deceived by flattering appearances, to live in a state of hallucination; and can forgive everything but the plain, downright, simple, honest truth. William Hazlitt

Words are the only things that last for ever. William Hazlitt

The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy. William Hazlitt

I am not, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, a good-natured man; that is, many things annoy me besides what interferes with my own ease and interest. I hate a lie; a piece of injustice wounds me to the quick, though nothing but the report of it reach me. Therefore I have made many enemies and few friends; for the public know nothing of well-wishers, and keep a wary eye on those who would reform them. William Hazlitt

THE rule for travelling abroad is to take our common sense with us, and leave our prejudices behind us. The object of travelling is to see and learn; but such is our impatience of ignorance, or the jealousy of our self-love, that we generally set up a certain preconception beforehand (in self-defence, or as a barrier against the lessons of experience, ) and are surprised at or quarrel with all that does not conform to it. Let us think what we please of what we really find, but pr . William Hazlitt

The perceiving our own weaknesses enables us to give others excellent advice, but it does not teach us to to reform ourselves. William Hazlitt

Love turns, with little indulgence, to indifference or disgust: hatred alone is immortal. William Hazlitt

Never so sure our rapture to create As when it touch'd the brink of all we hate. William Hazlitt

Good-nature, or what is often considered as such, is the most selfish of all the virtues: it is nine times out of ten mere indolence of disposition. William Hazlitt

A great chessplayer is not a great man, for he leaves the world as he found it. William Hazlitt

A man's life is his whole life, not the last glimmering snuff of the candle; and this, I say, is considerable, and not a little matter, whether we regard its pleasures or its pains. To draw a peevish conclusion to the contrary from our own superannuated desires or forgetful indifference is about as reasonable as to say, a man never was young because he has grown old, or never lived because he is now dead. The length or agreeableness of a journey does not depend on the few last steps of it, nor is the size of a building to be judged of from the last stone that is added to it. It is neither the first nor last hour of our existence, but the space that parts these two - not our exit nor our entrance upon the stage, but what we do, feel, and think while there - that we are to attend to in pronouncing sentence upon it. . William Hazlitt

He understands the texture and meaning of the visible universe, and 'sees into the life of things, ' not by the help of mechanical instruments, but of the improved exercise of his faculties, and an intimate sympathy with Nature. The meanest thing is not lost upon him, for he looks at it with an eye to itself, not merely to his own vanity or interest, or the opinion of the world. Even where there is neither beauty nor use–if that ever were–still there is truth, and a sufficient source of gratification in the indulgence of curiosity and activity of mind. The humblest printer is a true scholar; and the best of scholars - the scholar of Nature. . William Hazlitt

The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard. William Hazlitt

Modern fanaticism thrives in proportion to the quanitity of contradictions and nonsense it poures down the throats of the gaping multitude, and the jargon and mysticism it offers to their wonder and credulity. William Hazlitt

Rome has been called the "Sacred City": - might not our Oxford be called so too? There is an air about it, resonant of joy and hope: it speaks with a thousand tongues to the heart: it waves its mighty shadow over the imagination: it stands in lowly sublimity, on the "hill of ages"; and points with prophetic fingers to the sky: it greets the eager gaze from afar, "with glistering spires and pinnacles adorned, " that shine with an internal light as with the lustre of setting suns; and a dream and a glory hover round its head, as the spirits of former times, a throng of intellectual shapes, are seen retreating or advancing to the eye of memory: its streets are paved with the names of learning that can never wear out: its green quadrangles breathe the silence of thought. William Hazlitt

Sacrifices are no sacrifices when they are repaid a thousand fold. William Hazlitt

Repose is necessary to great efforts, and he who is never idle, labours in vain! William Hazlitt

Do not keep on with a mockery of friendship after the substance is gone - but part, while you can part friends. Bury the carcass of friendship: it is not worth embalming. William Hazlitt

Danger is a good teacher, and makes apt scholars. So are disgrace, defeat, exposure to immediate scorn and laughter. There is no opportunity in such cases for self-delusion, no idling time away, no being off your guard (or you must take the consequences) - neither is there any room for humour or caprice or prejudice. William Hazlitt

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be. William Hazlitt

We occasionally see something on the stage that reminds us a William Hazlitt

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 only study his commentators. ["On the Ignorance of the Learned"] William Hazlitt

In some situations, if you say nothing, you are called dull; if you talk, you are thought impertinent and arrogant. It is hard to know what to do in this case. The question seems to be, whether your vanity or your prudence predominates. William Hazlitt

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they might have been. William Hazlitt

Actors are the only honest hypocrites. William Hazlitt

Prosperity is a great teacher adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind privation trains and strengthens it. William Hazlitt

The same reason makes a man a religious enthusiast that makes a man an enthusiast in any other way: an uncomfortable mind in an uncomfortable body. William Hazlitt

We do not die wholly at our deaths: we have moldered away gradually long before. Faculty after faculty interest after interest attachment after attachment disappear: we are torn from ourselves while living. William Hazlitt

Grace is the absence of everything that indicates pain or difficulty hesitation or incongruity. William Hazlitt

We may be willing to tell a story twice never to hear it more than once. William Hazlitt

Wit is the salt of conversation not the food. William Hazlitt

Silence is one great art of conversation. William Hazlitt

Our energy is in proportion to the resistance it meets. We attempt nothing great but from a sense of the difficulties we have to encounter we persevere in nothing great but from a pride in overcoming them. William Hazlitt

Reason with most people means their own opinions. William Hazlitt

The soul of dispatch is decision. William Hazlitt

The difference between the vanity of a Frenchman and an Englishman seems to be this: The one thinks everything right that is French the other thinks everything wrong that is not English. William Hazlitt

A strong passion for any object will ensure success for the desire of the end will point out the means. William Hazlitt

Zeal will do more than knowledge. William Hazlitt

The same reason makes a man a religious enthusiast that makes a man an enthusiast in any other way ... an uncomfortable mind in an uncomfortable body. William Hazlitt

Faith is necessary to victory. William Hazlitt

Though familiarity may not breed contempt it takes off the edge of admiration. William Hazlitt

Anyone is to be pitied who has just sense enough to perceive his deficiencies. William Hazlitt

It is well there is no one without fault for he would not have a friend in the world. He would seem to belong to a different species. William Hazlitt

We are fonder of visiting our friends in health than in sickness. We judge less favorably of their characters when any misfortune happens to them and a lucky hit either in business or reputation improves even their personal appearance in our eyes. William Hazlitt

To be capable of steady friendship or lasting love are the two greatest proofs not only of goodness of heart but of strength of mind. William Hazlitt

We often choose a friend as we do a mistress for no particular excellence in themselves but merely from some circumstance that flatters our self-love. William Hazlitt

True friendship is self-love at second hand. William Hazlitt

We must be doing something to be happy. William Hazlitt

We are cold to others only when we are dull in ourselves. William Hazlitt

Man is a make-believe animal - he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part. William Hazlitt

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps for he is the only animal that is struck by the difference between what things are and what they might have been. William Hazlitt

None are completely wretched but those who are without hope and few are reduced so low as that. William Hazlitt

We are not hypocrites in our sleep. William Hazlitt

The more we do the more we can do the more busy we are the more leisure we have. William Hazlitt

The way to procure insults is to submit to them. A man meets with no more respect than he exacts. William Hazlitt

Calumny requires no proof. The throwing out of malicious imputations against any character leaves a stain which no after-refutation can wipe out. To create an unfavourable impression it is not necessary that certain things should be true but that they have been said. William Hazlitt

The love of liberty is the love of others the love of power is the love of ourselves. William Hazlitt

All that men really understand is confined to a very small compass to their daily affairs and experience to what they have an opportunity to know and motives to study or practise. The rest is affectation and imposture. William Hazlitt

Indolence is a delightful but distressing state. We must be doing something to be happy. William Hazlitt

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

None but those who are happy in themselves can make others so. William Hazlitt

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be. William Hazlitt

Those only deserve a monument who do not need one. William Hazlitt

We attempt nothing great but from a sense of the difficulties we have to encounter we persevere in nothing great but from a pride in overcoming them. William Hazlitt

Without the aid of prejudice and custom I should not be able to find my way across the room. William Hazlitt

Those who are fond of setting things to rights have no great objection to setting them wrong. William Hazlitt

Envy among other ingredients has a mixture of the love of justice in it. We are more angry at undeserved than at deserved good fortune. William Hazlitt

Landscape painting is the obvious resource of misanthropy. William Hazlitt

As is our confidence so is our capacity. William Hazlitt

Prejudice is the child of ignorance. William Hazlitt

The truly proud man is satisfied with his own good opinion and does not seek to make converts to it. William Hazlitt

The public have neither shame nor gratitude. William Hazlitt

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they might have been. William Hazlitt

It is essential to the triumph of reform that it shall never succeed. William Hazlitt

We had as lief not be as not be ourselves. William Hazlitt

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

Learning is the knowledge of that which none but the learned know. William Hazlitt

Let a man's talents or virtues be what they may he will only feel satisfaction as he is satisfied in himself. William Hazlitt

Let a man's talents or virtues be what they may he will only feel satisfaction in his society as he is satisfied in himself. William Hazlitt

Those people who are uncomfortable in themselves are disagreeable to others. William Hazlitt

The most silent people are generally those who think most highly of themselves. William Hazlitt

Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought. William Hazlitt

A life of action and danger moderates the dread of death. It not only gives us fortitude to bear pain but teaches us at every step the precarious tenure on which we hold our present being. William Hazlitt

If a person has no delicacy he has you in his power. William Hazlitt

There is nothing good to be had in the country or if there be they will not let you have it. William Hazlitt

The best part of our lives we pass in counting on what is to come. William Hazlitt

Great thoughts reduced to practice become great acts. William Hazlitt

Horus non numero nisi serenas (I count only the sunny hours). William Hazlitt

One truth discovered one pang of regret at not being able to express it is better than all the fluency and flippancy in the world. William Hazlitt

To write a genuine familiar or truly English style, is to write as any one 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

The most insignificant people are the most apt to sneer at others. They are safe from reprisals. And have no hope of rising in their own self esteem but by lowering their neighbors. William Hazlitt

A hypocrite despises those whom he deceives, but has no respect for himself. He would make a dupe of himself too, if he could. William Hazlitt

There is a secret pride in every human heart that revolts at tyranny. You may order and drive an individual, but you cannot make him respect you. William Hazlitt