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William Hazlitt Quotes - Page 18

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Women never reason, and therefore they are (comparatively) seldom wrong.

Women never reason, and therefore they are (comparatively) seldom wrong.

William Hazlitt
Women, Reason
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1504, Delphi Classics

Whatever interests is interesting.

William Hazlitt
Interesting, Interest
William Hazlitt (1870). “The Plain Speaker: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things”, p.225

They are the only honest hypocrites, their life is a voluntary dream, a studied madness.

William Hazlitt
Dream, Hypocrite, Acting
William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.218

An accomplished coquette excites the passions of others, in proportion as she feels none herself.

William Hazlitt
Passion, Coquette, Coquetry

The confession of our failings is a thankless office. It savors less of sincerity or modesty than of ostentation. It seems as if we thought our weaknesses as good as other people's virtues.

William Hazlitt
Honesty, People, Office
"Characteristics, in the manner of Rochefoucauld's Maxims". Book by William Hazlitt. No. 43, 1823.

Art must anchor in nature, or it is the sport of every breath of folly.

William Hazlitt
Sports, Art, Anchors
William Hazlitt (1845). “Table Talk: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things”, p.250

No man would, I think, exchange his existence with any other man, however fortunate. We had as lief not be, as not be ourselves.

William Hazlitt
Men, Thinking, Self
William Hazlitt (1845). “Table Talk: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things”, p.127

The soul of dispatch is decision.

William Hazlitt
Decision, Soul
William Hazlitt (1859). “Table talk”, p.141

Knowledge is pleasure as well as power.

William Hazlitt
Pleasure, Wells
William Hazlitt (1821). “Table-talk: Or Original Essays”, p.32

Habit in most cases hardens and encrusts by taking away the keener edge of our sensations: but does it not in others quicken and refine, by giving a mechanical facility and by engrafting an acquired sense?

William Hazlitt
Giving, Doe, Habit
William Hazlitt (1859). “Table talk”

There is a heroism in crime as well as in virtue. Vice and infamy have their altars and their religion.

William Hazlitt
Vices, Heroism, Virtue
William Hazlitt (1839). “Sketches and Essays”, p.39

To a superior race of being the pretensions of mankind to extraordinary sanctity and virtue must seem... ridiculous.

William Hazlitt
Race, Ridiculous, Virtue
William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.486

The player envies only the player, the poet envies only the poet.

William Hazlitt
Player, Envy, Poet
William Hazlitt (1839). “Sketches and Essays”, p.313

Our opinions are not our own, but in the power of sympathy. If a person tells us a palpable falsehood, we not only dare not contradict him, but we dare hardly disbelieve him to his face. A lie boldly uttered has the effect of truth for the instant.

William Hazlitt
Lying, Faces, Opinion
William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.487

Any one may mouth out a passage with a theatrical cadence, or get upon stilts to tell his thoughts; but to write or speak with propriety and simplicity is a more difficult task. Thus it is easy to affect a pompous style, to use a word twice as big as the thing you want to express; it is not so easy to pitch upon the very word that exactly fits it.

William Hazlitt
Writing, Simplicity, Style
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1270, Delphi Classics

Every man, in judging of himself, is his own contemporary. He may feel the gale of popularity, but he cannot tell how long it will last. His opinion of himself wants distance, wants time, wants numbers, to set it off and confirm it.

William Hazlitt
Distance, Men, Numbers
William Hazlitt (1845). “Table Talk: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things”, p.38

Every man depends on the quantity of sense, wit, or good manners he brings into society for the reception he meets with in it.

William Hazlitt
Men, Good Man, Society
William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1227, Delphi Classics

The humblest painter is a true scholar; and the best of scholars the scholar of nature.

William Hazlitt
Painter, Scholar
William Hazlitt (1844). “Criticisms on Art”, p.11

We grow tired of ourselves, much more of other people.

William Hazlitt
Tired, People, Grows
William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.493

Reflection brakes men cowards. There is no object that can be put in competition with life, unless it is viewed through the medium of passion, and we are hurried away by the impulse of the moment.

William Hazlitt
Passion, Reflection, Men

Want of principle is power. Truth and honesty set a limit to our efforts, which impudence and hypocrisy easily overleap.

William Hazlitt
Honesty, Power, Hypocrisy
William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.487

Popularity disarms envy in well-disposed minds. Those are ever the most ready to do justice to others who feel that the world has done them justice. When success has not this effect in opening the mind, it is a sign that it has been ill deserved.

William Hazlitt
Envy, Justice, Mind
William Hazlitt (1823). “Characteristics: In the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims”, p.4

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
Thinking, Order, Way
William Hazlitt (1913). “Selections from William Hazlitt”, Boston, New York etc. Ginn [c1913]

The youth is better than the old age of friendship.

William Hazlitt
Friendship, Age, Youth
William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.493

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
Friendship, Children, Ties
William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.493

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