William Hazlitt Quotes

434 Sourced Quotes

The truly proud man knows neither superiors nor inferiors. The first he does not admit of: the last he does not concern himself about.

William Hazlitt
Life is the art of being well deceived; and in order that the deception may succeed it must be habitual and uninterrupted.

William Hazlitt
Great thoughts reduced to practice become great acts.

William Hazlitt
Give me the clear blue sky over my head, and the green turf beneath my feet, a winding road before me, and a three hours' march to dinner — and then to thinking! … I begin to feel, think, and be myself again. Instead of an awkward silence, broken by attempts at wit or dull common-places, mine is that undisturbed silence of the heart which alone is perfect eloquence.

William Hazlitt
Language, if it throws a veil over our ideas, adds a softness and refinement to them, like that which the atmosphere gives to naked objects.

William Hazlitt
To think justly, we must understand what others mean. To know the value of our thoughts, we must try their effect on other minds.

William Hazlitt
No man is truly great who is great only in his lifetime. The test of greatness is the page of history.

William Hazlitt
People are not soured by misfortune, but by the reception they meet with in it.

William Hazlitt
We find many things to which the prohibition of them constitutes the only temptation.

William Hazlitt
Death is the greatest evil, because it cuts off hope.

William Hazlitt
We are thankful for good-will rather than for services, for the motive than the quantum of favor received.

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

William Hazlitt
The thing is plain. 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
We are governed by sympathy; and the extent of our sympathy is determined by that of our sensibility

William Hazlitt
There is no one thoroughly despicable. We cannot descend much lower than an idiot; and an idiot has some advantages over a wise man.

William Hazlitt
Some one is generally sure to be the sufferer by a joke.

William Hazlitt
When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.

William Hazlitt
Almost every sect of Christianity is a perversion of its essence, to accommodate it to the prejudices of the world.

William Hazlitt
Corporate bodies are more corrupt and profligate than individuals, because they have more power to do mischief, and are less amenable to disgrace or punishment. They feel neither shame, remorse, gratitude, nor goodwill.

William Hazlitt
The objects that we have known in better days are the main props that sustain the weight of our affections, and give us strength to await our future lot. The future is like a dead wall or a thick mist hiding all objects from our view; the past is alive and stirring with objects, bright or solemn, and of unfading interest.

William Hazlitt
Any one who has passed through the regular gradations of a classical education, and is not made a fool by it, may consider himself as having had a very narrow escape.

William Hazlitt
When a man is dead, they put money in his coffin, erect monuments to his memory, and celebrate the anniversary of his birthday in set speeches. Would they take any notice of him if he were living? No!

William Hazlitt
Our repugnance to death increases in proportion to our consciousness of having lived in vain.

William Hazlitt
Taste is nothing but an enlarged capacity for receiving pleasure from works of imagination.

William Hazlitt
It is better to be able neither to read nor write than to be able to do nothing else.

William Hazlitt
The devil was a great loss in the preternatural world. He was always something to fear and to hate; he supplied the antagonist powers of the imagination, and the arch of true religion hardly stands firm without him.

William Hazlitt
The temple of fame stands upon the grave: the flame that burns upon its altars is kindled from the ashes of dead men.

William Hazlitt
The characteristic of Chaucer is intensity; of Spenser, remoteness; of Milton, elevation; of Shakespeare, every thing.

William Hazlitt
We never do anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing it.

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