Quotes by Hazlitt, William

"A hypocrite despises those whom he deceives, but has no respect for himself. He would make a dupe of himself too, if he could."

Hazlitt, William on hypocrisy
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"There are many who talk on from ignorance rather than from knowledge, and who find the former an inexhaustible fund of conversation."

Hazlitt, William on ignorance   

"Lest he should wander irretrievably from the right path, he stands still."

Hazlitt, William on inertia   

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"The are of will-making chiefly consists in baffling the importunity of expectation."

Hazlitt, William on inheritance   

"An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offence; a vain man, in order that it may."

Hazlitt, William on injury   

"The best way to procure insults is to submit to them."

Hazlitt, William on insults   

"There is nothing more likely to drive a man mad, than the being unable to get rid of the idea of the distinction between right and wrong, and an obstinate, constitutional preference of the true to the agreeable."

Hazlitt, William on integrity   

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"Man is a make-believe animal -- he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part."

Hazlitt, William on integrity   

"Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they might of been."

Hazlitt, William on laughter
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"Those who can command themselves command others."

Hazlitt, William on leadership
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"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."

Hazlitt, William on learning   

"The busier we are the more leisure we have."

Hazlitt, William on leisure   

"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."

Hazlitt, William on liberty   

"First impressions are often the truest, as we find (not infrequently) to our cost, when we have been wheedled out of them by plausible professions or studied actions. A man's look is the work of years; it is stamped on his countenance by the events of his whole life, nay, more, by the hand of nature, and it is not to be got rid of easily."

Hazlitt, William on appearance   

"The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves. We cannot force love."

Hazlitt, William on love
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"I do not think that what is called Love at first sight is so great an absurdity as it is sometimes imagined to be. We generally make up our minds beforehand to the sort of person we should like, grave or gay, black, brown, or fair; with golden tresses or raven locks; -- and when we meet with a complete example of the qualities we admire, the bargain is soon struck."

Hazlitt, William on love
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"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?"

Hazlitt, William on media   

"To be remembered after we are dead, is but poor recompense for being treated with contempt while we are living."

Hazlitt, William on memory   

"The mind of man is like a clock that is always running down, and requires to be constantly wound up."

Hazlitt, William on mind   

"Modesty is the lowest of the virtues, and is a real confession of the deficiency it indicates. He who undervalues himself is justly undervalued by others."

Hazlitt, William on modesty
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"No truly great person ever thought themselves so."

Hazlitt, William on modesty   

"Every man, in his own opinion, forms an exception to the ordinary rules of morality."

Hazlitt, William on morality   

"A nickname is the heaviest stone that the devil can throw at a man. It is a bugbear to the imagination, and, though we do not believe in it, it still haunts our apprehensions."

Hazlitt, William on nicknames   

"Nothing is more unjust or capricious than public opinion."

Hazlitt, William on opinions   

"The smallest pain in our little finger gives us more concern than the destruction of millions of our fellow beings."

Hazlitt, William on pain
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"If mankind had wished for what is right, they might have had it long ago."

Hazlitt, William on peace   

"No one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves."

Hazlitt, William on perfection   

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

Hazlitt, William on performance   

"The art of pleasing consists in being pleased."

Hazlitt, William on persuasion   

"The essence of poetry is will and passion."

Hazlitt, William on poetry and poets   

"Poetry is the universal language which the heart holds with nature and itself. He who has a contempt for poetry, cannot have much respect for himself, or for anything else."

Hazlitt, William on poetry and poets   

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"The poetical impression of any object is that uneasy, exquisite sense of beauty or power that cannot be contained within itself; that is impatient of all limit; that (as flame bends to flame) strives to link itself to some other image of kindred beauty or grandeur; to enshrine itself, as it were, in the highest forms of fancy, and to relieve the aching sense of pleasure by expressing it in the boldest manner."

Hazlitt, William on poetry and poets   

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

Hazlitt, William on acting and actors   

"We must overact our part in some measure, in order to produce any effect at all."

Hazlitt, William on acting and actors   

"They are, as it were, train-bearers in the pageant of life, and hold a glass up to humanity, frailer than itself. We see ourselves at second-hand in them: they show us all that we are, all that we wish to be, and all that we dread to be. What brings the resemblance nearer is, that, as they imitate us, we, in our turn, imitate them. There is no class of society whom so many persons regard with affection as actors."

Hazlitt, William on acting and actors   

"A Whig is properly what is called a Trimmer -- that is, a coward to both sides of the question, who dare not be a knave nor an honest man, but is a sort of whiffing, shuffling, cunning, silly, contemptible, unmeaning negation of the two."

Hazlitt, William on politics   

"If a person has no delicacy, he has you in his power."

Hazlitt, William on power   

"Prejudice is the child of ignorance."

Hazlitt, William on prejudice   

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"The most learned are often the most narrow minded."

Hazlitt, William on prejudice   

"There is no prejudice so strong as that which arises from a fancied exemption from all prejudice."

Hazlitt, William on prejudice