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William Hazlitt Quotes - Page 16

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Of all virtues, magnanimity is the rarest. There are a hundred persons of merit for one who willingly acknowledges it in another.

Of all virtues, magnanimity is the rarest. There are a hundred persons of merit for one who willingly acknowledges it in another.

William Hazlitt
Character, Personality, Merit
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1464, Delphi Classics

Affectation is as necessary to the mind as dress is to the body.

William Hazlitt
Mind, Dresses, Body
William Hazlitt (1852). “Men and manners: sketches and essays”, p.43

Learning is, in too many cases, but a foil to common sense; a substitute for true knowledge. Books are less often made use of as spectacles to look at nature with, than as blinds to keep out its strong light and shifting scenery from weak eyes and indolent dispositions. The learned are mere literary drudges.

William Hazlitt
Nature, Strong, Book
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1091, Delphi Classics

The only true retirement is that of the heart; the only true leisure is the repose of the passions. To such persons it makes little difference whether they are young or old; and they die as they have lived, with graceful resignation.

William Hazlitt
Retirement, Passion, Heart
William Hazlitt (1918). “Twenty-two Essays of William Hazlitt”

An orator can hardly get beyond commonplaces: if he does he gets beyond his hearers.

William Hazlitt
Doe, Public Speaking, Orators
William Hazlitt (1845). “Table Talk: Essays on Men and Manners”

Well I've had a happy life.

William Hazlitt
Life, Happy Life, Last Words
Last words, in W. C. Hazlitt 'Memoirs of William Hazlitt' (1867)

The world judge of men by their ability in their profession, and we judge of ourselves by the same test: for it is on that on which our success in life depends.

William Hazlitt
Life, Success, Men
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1471, Delphi Classics

The most violent friendships soonest wear themselves out.

William Hazlitt
Friendship, Emo, Violent
William Hazlitt (1837). “Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].”, p.87

General principles are not the less true or important because from their nature they elude immediate observation; they are like the air, which is not the less necessary because we neither see nor feel it.

William Hazlitt
Philosophy, Elude Us, Air
William Hazlitt (1809). “The Eloquence of the British Senate: Being a Selection of the Best Speeches of the Most Distinguished English, Irish, and Scotch Parliamentary Speakers, from the Beginning of the Reign of Charles I. to the Present Time”, p.209

The great requisite for the prosperous management of ordinary business is the want of imagination.

William Hazlitt
Imagination, Ordinary, Want
William Hazlitt (1859). “Table talk”, p.117

Political truth is libel; religious truth, blasphemy.

William Hazlitt
Religious, Truth, Political
William Hazlitt, William Ernest Henley (1904). “The Collected Works of William Hazlitt: Fugitive writings”

The contemplation of truth and beauty is the proper object for which we were created, which calls forth the most intense desires of the soul, and of which it never tires.

William Hazlitt
Soul, Desire, Tire
William Hazlitt (1824). “Sketches of the Principal Picture-galleries in England, with a Criticism on "Marriage A-la-mode.".”, p.5

The idea of what the public will think prevents the public from ever thinking at all, and acts as a spell on the exercise of private judgment.

William Hazlitt
Exercise, Thinking, Ideas
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1118, Delphi Classics

The surest hindrance of success is to have too high a standard of refinement in our own minds, or too high an opinion of the judgment of the public. He who is determined not to be satisfied with anything short of perfection will never do anything to please himself or others.

William Hazlitt
Perfection, Mind, Determined

Every one in a crowd has the power to throw dirt; none out of ten have the inclination.

William Hazlitt
Power, Crowds, Dirt

The essence of poetry is will and passion.

William Hazlitt
Passion, Essence, Poetry Is
William Hazlitt (1836). “Literary Remains of the Late William Hazlitt: With a Notice of His Life”, p.76

Fashion constantly begins and ends in the two things it abhors most, singularity and vulgarity.

William Hazlitt
Fashion, Two, Ends
1818 'On Fashion', in the Scots Magazine.

Perhaps propriety is as near a word as any to denote the manners of the gentleman; elegance is necessary to the fine gentleman; dignity is proper to noblemen; and majesty to kings.

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

There is an unseemly exposure of the mind, as well as of the body.

William Hazlitt
Mind, Body, Exposure
'Sketches and Essays' (1839) 'On Disagreeable People'

The slaves of power mind the cause they have to serve, because their own interest is concerned; but the friends of liberty always sacrifice their cause, which is only the cause of humanity, to their own spleen, vanity, and self-opinion.

William Hazlitt
Sacrifice, Vanity, Self
William Hazlitt, William Ernest Henley (1904). “The Collected Works of William Hazlitt: Fugitive writings”

A felon could plead "benefit of clergy" and be saved by [reading aloud] what was aptly enough termed the "neck verse", which was very usually the Miserere mei of Psalm 51.

William Hazlitt
Book, Reading, Benefits

If mankind had wished for what is right, they might have had it long ago.

William Hazlitt
Peace, Long Ago, Society
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1924, Delphi Classics

Most of the methods for measuring the lapse of time have, I believe, been the contrivance of monks and religious recluses, who, finding time hang heavy on their hands, were at some pains to see how they got rid of it.

William Hazlitt
Religious, Time, Pain
William Hazlitt (1839). “Sketches and Essays”, p.69

Belief is with them mechanical, voluntary: they believe what they are paid for - they swear to that which turns to account. Do you suppose, that after years spent in this manner, they have any feeling left answering to the difference between truth and falsehood?

William Hazlitt
Believe, Media, Years
William Hazlitt, James Thornton (1967). “Miscellaneous writings”

They [corporations] feel neither shame, remorse, gratitude, nor goodwill.

William Hazlitt
Gratitude, Business, Corporations

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