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William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt Quotes

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Famous William Hazlitt Quotes

“The confined air of a metropolis is hurtful to the minds and bodies of those who have never lived out of it. It is impure, stagnant--without breathing-space to allow a larger view of ourselves or others--and gives birth to a puny, sickly, unwholesome, and degenerate race of beings.”

GivingMindBodySpaceViewsRaceCitiesAirBirthBreathingMind And BodyConfinedDegeneratesHurtfulStagnantMetropolisBreathing Space
Book:The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt
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“The history of mankind is a romance, a mask, a tragedy, constructed upon the principles of POETICAL JUSTICE; it is a noble or royal hunt, in which what is sport to the few is death to the many, and in which the spectators halloo and encourage the strong to set upon the weak, and cry havoc in the chase, though they do not share in the spoil.”

RomanceStrongSportsJusticePrinciplesHistoryShareMankindCryWeakTragedyNobleMaskRoyalHuntsSpectatorsSpoilHavoc
Book:The Miscellaneous Works
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“Kings ought never to be seen upon the stage. In the abstract, they are very disagreeable characters: it is only while living that they are 'the best of kings'. It is their power, their splendour, it is the apprehension of the personal consequences of their favour or their hatred that dazzles the imagination and suspends the judgement of their favourites or their vassals; but death cancels the bond of allegiance and of interest; and seen AS THEY WERE, their power and their pretensions look monstrous and ridiculous.”

LooksCharacterInterestImaginationStageOughtKingsConsequenceHatredRidiculousJudgementAbstractFavourAllegianceMonstrousApprehensionPretensionDisagreeableDazzleSplendour
Book:Characters of Shakespeare's Plays
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“People try to reconcile you to a disappointment in love by asking why you should cherish a passion for an object that has proved itself worthless. Had you known this before, you would not have encouraged the passion; but that having been once formed, knowledge does not destroy it. If we have drank poison, finding it out does not prevent its being in our veins: so passion leaves its poison in the mind!”

PeopleIfsLoveShouldTryingMindDoePassionKnownObjectsFindingsAskingDisappointmentPoisonCherishWorthlessVeinsDrankReconcileAsking WhyDisappointment Love
Book:The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt
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“When we hear complaints of the wretchedness or vanity of human life, the proper answer to them would be that there is hardly any one who at some point or other has not been in love. If we consider the high abstraction of this feeling, its depth, its purity, its voluptuous refinement, even in the meanest breast, how sacred and how sweet it is, this alone may reconcile us to the lot of humanity. That drop of balm turns the bitter cup to a delicious nectar.”

IfsLoveHumansMayFeelingsWould BeHumanityTurnsAnswersSweetSacredDepthBitterCupsVanityHuman LifePurityBreastsComplaintsDeliciousAbstractionReconcileRefinementBeen In LoveWretchednessNectarVoluptuous
Book:The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt
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“Any woman may act the part of a coquette successfully who has the reputation without the scruples of modesty. If a woman passes the bounds of propriety for our sakes, and throws herself unblushingly at our heads, we conclude it is either from a sudden and violent liking, or from extraordinary merit on our parts, either of which is enough to turn any man's head who has a single spark of gallantry or vanity in his composition.”

IfsMenMayEnoughTurnsWomenExtraordinaryBoundsSakeViolentReputationVanityMeritSparksModestyCompositionProprietyScruplesGallantryCoquette
Author:William Hazlitt
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“With women, the great business of life is love; and they generally make a mistake in it. They consult neither the heart nor the head, but are led away by mere humour and fancy. If instead of a companion for life, they had to choose a partner in a country-dance or to trifle away an hour with, their mode of calculation would be right. They tie their true-lover's knot with idle, thoughtless haste, while the institutions of society render it indissoluble.”

IfsHeartCountryWould BeLife IsWomenHoursMistakeHumourLoversInstitutionsMerePartnersTiesFancyCompanionIdleCalculationsTriflesHasteKnotsGreat BusinessTrue Lovers
Book:Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].
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“That humanity and sincerity which dispose men to resist injustice and tyranny render them unfit to cope with the cunning and power of those who are opposed to them. The friends of liberty trust to the professions of others because they are themselves sincere, and endeavour to secure the public good with the least possible hurt to its enemies, who have no regard to anything but their own unprincipled ends, and stick at nothing to accomplish them.”

MenEndsHumanityHurtLibertyEnemyRegardSticksInjusticeAccomplishProfessionTyrannySecureSincereSincerityCunningEndeavourPublic Good
Book:Characters of Shakespeare's Plays
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“A taste for liberal art is necessary to complete the character of a gentleman, Science alone is hard and mechanical. It exercises the understanding upon things out of ourselves, while it leaves the affections unemployed, or engrossed with our own immediate, narrow interests.”

ArtHardCharacterUnderstandingInterestExerciseTasteArt IsAffectionGentlemanUnemployedLiberal Arts
Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)
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“The great have private feelings of their own, to which the interests of humanity and justice must curtsy. Their interests are so far from being the same as those of the community, that they are in direct and necessary opposition to them; their power is at the expense of OUR weakness; their riches of OUR poverty; their pride of OUR degradation; their splendour of OUR wretchedness; their tyranny of OUR servitude.”

FeelingsHumanityInterestCommunityJusticePovertyPrideWeaknessDirectRichesTyrannyOppositionExpensesDegradationServitudeWretchednessSplendour
Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)
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“However we may flatter ourselves to the contrary, our friends think no higher of us than the world do. They see us through the jaundiced or distrustful eyes of others. They may know better, but their feelings are governed by popular prejudice. Nay, they are more shy of us (when under a cloud) than even strangers; for we involve them in a common disgrace, or compel them to embroil themselves in continual quarrels and disputes in our defense.”

ThinkingKnowsWorldMayFeelingsEyeCommonHigherPrejudiceCloudsStrangerDefenseContraryShyDisputesQuarrelsDisgrace
Book:Liber Amoris and Related Writings
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“Danger is a good teacher, and makes apt scholars. So are disgrace, defeat, exposure to immediate scorn and laughter. There is no opportunity in such cases for self-delusion, no idling time away, no being off your guard (or you must take the consequences) - neither is there any room for humour or caprice or prejudice.”

SelfOpportunityRoomsCasesTeacherDangerHumourLaughterConsequencePrejudiceDefeatDelusionScholarExposureScornDisgraceGood TeacherCapriceSelf DelusionTime Away
Book:On the Pleasure of Hating
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“It [will-making] is the latest opportunity we have of exercising the natural perversity of the disposition. This last act of our lives seldom belies the former tenor of them for stupidity, caprice, and unmeaning spite. All that we seem to think of is to manage matters so (in settling accounts with those who are so unmannerly as to survive us) as to do as little good, and to plague and disappoint as many people, as possible.”

PeopleThinkingLittlesMatterSeemsLastsOpportunityNaturalOur LivesExerciseAccountsStupidityManageFormerSettlingSpiteDispositionPlagueDisappointTenorsCapricePerversity
Author:William Hazlitt
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