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William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt Quotes

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Famous William Hazlitt Quotes

“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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“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)
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“Envy is the most universal passion. We only pride ourselves on the qualities we possess, or think we possess; but we envy the pretensions we have, and those which we have not, and do not even wish for. We envy the greatest qualities and every trifling advantage. We envy the most ridiculous appearance or affectation of superiority. We envy folly and conceit; nay, we go so far as to envy whatever confers distinction of notoriety, even vice and infamy.”

ThinkingPassionWishQualityPrideAdvantageUniversalVicesAppearanceEnvyRidiculousFollyDistinctionSuperiorityConceitPretensionTriflingInfamyNotoriety
Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)
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“Poetry is only the highest eloquence of passion, the most vivid form of expression that can be given to our conception of anything, whether pleasurable or painful, mean or dignified, delightful or distressing. It is the perfect coincidence of the image and the words with the feeling we have, and of which we cannot get rid in any other way, that gives an instant "satisfaction to the thought." This is equally the origin of wit and fancy, of comedy and tragedy, of the sublime and pathetic.”

WayGivingWritingMeanFeelingsFormPassionGivenPerfectComedyExpressionHighestTragedyPainfulSatisfactionWitInstantFancyPoetry IsConceptionCoincidenceSublimeDelightfulVividPatheticEloquenceDistressing
Book:Lectures on the English Poets
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“Our energy is in proportion to the resistance it meets. We attempt nothing great but from a sense of the difficulties we have to encounter, we persevere in nothing great but from a pride in overcoming them.”

PassionEnergyPrideFameAmbitionOvercomingDifficultyPerseveranceResistanceEncountersProportionPersevere
Book:Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].
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“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)
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“We are the creatures of imagination, passion, and self-will, more than of reason or even of self-interest. Even in the common transactions and daily intercourse of life, we are governed by whim, caprice, prejudice, or accident. The falling of a teacup puts us out of temper for the day; and a quarrel that commenced about the pattern of a gown may end only with our lives.”

LifeMayEndsSelfReasonFallPassionInterestImaginationCommonOur LivesCreaturesPrejudicePatternsAccidentsTemperQuarrelsSelf InterestIntercourseWhimTransactionsGownsCapriceSelf Will
Book:The Collected Works of William Hazlitt: Fugitive writings
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“Our notions with respect to the importance of life, and our attachment to it, depend on a principle which has very little to do with its happiness or its misery. The love of life is, in general, the effect not of our enjoyments, but of our passions.”

LittlesLife IsPassionPrinciplesEffectsDependsImportanceMiseryNotionEnjoymentLove LifeAttachmentImportance Of Life
Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)
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