Quotessence
Home / Authors / William Hazlitt
William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsMindWorldThinkingMayPeopleGivingPersonsWellsArtKnowsLittlesOpinionFeelsVirtueLifeBookObjectsPassion

Famous William Hazlitt Quotes

“Persons without education certainly do not want either acuteness or strength of mind in what concerns themselves, or in things immediately within their observation; but they have no power of abstraction, no general standard of taste, or scale of opinion. They see their objects always near, and never in the horizon. Hence arises that egotism which has been remarked as the characteristic of self-taught men.”

MenWantMindPersonsHas BeensSelfOpinionObjectsTaughtTasteStandardsConcernScalesAriseObservationCharacteristicsHorizonAbstractionEgotismStrength Of MindSelf Taught
Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)
Create image

“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.”

IfsKnowsWorldFeelsMeanPersonsSelfInterestAttentionObjectsSceneSilentCuriosityPassingPassingsThoughtfulAnxiousInclinationSpectators
Book:Table-talk: Or Original Essays
Create image

“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
Create image

“Whatever is placed beyond the reach of sense and knowledge, whatever is imperfectly discerned, the fancy pieces out at its leisure; and all but the present moment, but the present spot, passion claims for its own, and brooding over it with wings outspread, stamps it with an image of itself. Passion is lord of infinite space, and distant objects please because they border on its confines and are moulded by its touch.”

MomentsPassionSpaceLordPiecesObjectsPleaseClaimsInfiniteWingsSpotsBordersFancyOver ItPresent MomentLeisureStampsBroodingInfinite Space
Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)
Create image

“Art is the microscope of the mind, which sharpens the wit as the other does the sight; and converts every object into a little universe in itself. Art may be said to draw aside the veil from nature. To those who are perfectly unskilled in the practice, unimbued with the principles of art, most objects present only a confused mass.”

MindMayLittlesDoeArtSaidUniversePrinciplesPracticeObjectsMassDrawsArt IsSightWitConfusedVeilsMicroscopes
Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)
Create image

“A strong passion for any object will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means.”

InspirationalMeanEndsMotivationalSuccessDesirePassionStrongObjectsFootballAchievementFollow Your PassionGreat PassionLove PassionLove And PassionPassion For LifePassion And SuccessStrong DesirePassion For What You DoDesire For SuccessStrong PassionObjects Of DesirePassion And DesireInspirational PassionLiving Your Passion
Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)
Create image

“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.”

FormPleasureBeautyObjectsLimitsHighestStriveImpressionFlamesFancyLinksStrifeImpatientExquisiteGrandeurUneasyKindred
Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)
Create image