William Hazlitt - Friendship Quotes

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The dupe of friendship, and the fool of love; have I not reason to hate and to despise myself? Indeed I do; and chiefly for not having hated and despised the world enough.

William Hazlitt
If goodness were only a theory, it were a pity it should be lost to the world. There are a number of things, the idea of which is a clear gain to the mind. Let people, for instance, rail at friendship, genius, freedom, as long as they will -the very names of these despised qualities are better than anything else that could be substituted for them, and embalm even the most envenomed satire against them.

William Hazlitt
Few things tend more to alienate friendship than a want of punctuality in our engagements. I have known the breach of a promise to dine or sup to break up more than one intimacy.

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
Old friendships are like meats served up repeatedly, cold, comfortless, and distasteful. The stomach turns against them.

William Hazlitt
There are no rules for friendship. It must be left to itself. We cannot force it any more than love.

William Hazlitt
True friendship is self-love at second hand; where, as in a flattering mirror we may see our virtues magnified and our errors softened, and where we may fancy our opinion of ourselves confirmed by an impartial and faithful witness.

William Hazlitt
Even in the common affairs of life, in love, friendship, and marriage, how little security have we when we trust our happiness in the hands of others!

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
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
Poverty is the test of civility and the touchstone of friendship.

William Hazlitt
The discussing the characters and foibles of common friends is a great sweetness and cement of friendship.

William Hazlitt
Friendship is cemented by interest, vanity, or the want of amusement; it seldom implies esteem, or even mutual regard.

William Hazlitt
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