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William Hazlitt Quotes - Page 15

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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,

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
Lying, Hate, Eye
William Hazlitt (1826). “The plain speaker: opinions on books, men, and things [by W. Hazlitt].”, p.364

Envy is a littleness of soul, which cannot see beyond a certain point, and if it does not occupy the whole space feels itself excluded.

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

I do not think there is anything deserving the name of society to be found out of London.

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

The public is so in awe of its own opinion that it never dares to form any, but catches up the first idle rumour, lest it should be behindhand in its judgment, and echoes it till it is deafened with the sound of its own voice.

William Hazlitt
Voice, Echoes, Firsts
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1118, Delphi Classics

One said he wondered that leather was not dearer than any other thing. Being demanded a reason: because, saith he, it is more stood upon than any other thing in the world.

William Hazlitt
World, Reason, Leather
"Shakespeare Jest Books, Conceits, Clinches, Flashes and Whimzies", No. 86, as quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations, p. 705-06, 1922.

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

William Hazlitt
Friends, Character, Common

Those who have had none of the cares of this life to harass and disturb them, have been obliged to have recourse to the hopes and fears of the next to vary the prospect before them.

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

The diffusion of taste is not the same thing as the improvement of taste.

William Hazlitt
Taste, Improvement, Diffusion
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.344, Delphi Classics

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

William Hazlitt
Hope, Cutting, Evil
Characteristics 35

Whatever excites the spirit of contradiction is capable of producing the last effects of heroism; which is only the highest pitch of obstinacy, in a good or bad cause, in wisdom or folly.

William Hazlitt
Causes, Heroism, Lasts
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1482, Delphi Classics

We go on a journey to be free of all impediments; to leave ourselves behind much more than to get rid of others

William Hazlitt
Journey, Goes On, Behinds

A man who is determined never to move out of the beaten road cannot lose his way.

William Hazlitt
Moving, Men, Way
William Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt (1817). “The round table: a collection of essays on literature, men, and manners, by W. Hazlitt [and J.H.L. Hunt].”, p.169

Fame is the inheritance not of the dead, but of the living. It is we who look back with lofty pride to the great names of antiquity.

William Hazlitt
Pride, Names, Looks
William Hazlitt (1837). “Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].”, p.139

Painters... are the most lively observers of what passes in the world about them, and the closest observers of what passes in their own minds.

William Hazlitt
Mind, World, Painting
William Hazlitt (1848). “The Miscellaneous Works”, p.7

Humour is the describing the ludicrous as it is in itself; wit is the exposing it, by comparing or contrasting it with something else. Humour is, as it were, the growth of nature and accident; wit is the product of art and fancy.

William Hazlitt
Funny, Art, Growth
William Hazlitt (1841). “Lectures on the English Comic Writers”, p.23

Success in business is seldom owing to uncommon talents or original power which is untractable and self-willed, but to the greatest degree of commonplace capacity.

William Hazlitt
Business, Self, Owing
William Hazlitt (2008). “Liber Amoris and Related Writings”, Carcanet Press

A gentleman is one who understands and shows every mark of deference to the claims of self-love in others, and exacts it in return from them.

William Hazlitt
Self, Gentleman, Return
William Hazlitt (1845). “Table Talk: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things”

Pride erects a little kingdom of its own, and acts as sovereign in it.

William Hazlitt
Pride, Littles, Kingdoms
William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.468

Truth from the mouth of an honest man and severity from a good-natured man have a double effect.

William Hazlitt
Men, Mouths, Honest

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

William Hazlitt
Life, Success, Pain
William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.101

Elegance is something more than ease; it is more than a freedom from awkwardness or restraint. It implies, I conceive, a precision, a polish, a sparkling, spirited yet delicate.

William Hazlitt
Ease, Elegance, Precision
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.2003, Delphi Classics

What I mean by living to one's-self is living in the world, as in it, not of it: it is as if no one know there was such a person, and you wished no one to know it: it is to be a silent spectator of the mighty scene of things, not an object of attention or curiosity in it; to take a thoughtful, anxious interest in what is passing in the world, but not to feel the slightest inclination to make or meddle with it.

William Hazlitt
Mean, Thoughtful, Self
William Hazlitt (1821). “Table-talk: Or Original Essays”, p.213

We are the creatures of imagination, passion, and self-will, more than of reason or even of self-interest. Even in the common transactions and daily intercourse of life, we are governed by whim, caprice, prejudice, or accident. The falling of a teacup puts us out of temper for the day; and a quarrel that commenced about the pattern of a gown may end only with our lives.

William Hazlitt
Life, Fall, Passion
William Hazlitt (1904). “The Collected Works of William Hazlitt: Fugitive writings”

Good temper is an estate for life.

William Hazlitt
Life, Estates, Temper
William Hazlitt (1848). “The Miscellaneous Works”

Vice, like disease, floats in the atmosphere.

William Hazlitt
Atmosphere, Vices, Disease
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1484, Delphi Classics

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