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William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt Quotes

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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)
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“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
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“Silence is one great art of conversation. He is not a fool who knows when to hold his tongue; and a person may gain credit for sense, eloquence, wit, who merely says nothing to lessen the opinion which others have of these qualities in themselves.”

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Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)
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“As a general rule, those who are dissatisfied with themselves will seek to go out of themselves into an ideal world. Persons in strong health and spirits, who take plenty of air and exercise, who are "in favor with, their stars," and have a thorough relish of the good things of this life, seldom devote themselves in despair to religion or the muses. Sedentary, nervous, hypochondriacal people, on the contrary, are forced, for want of an appetite for the real and substantial, to look out for a more airy food and speculative comforts.”

PeopleWorldWantLooksPersonsRealSpiritStrongStarsAirExerciseComfortDespairIdealsGood ThingsContraryFavorsNervousPlentyThis LifeAppetiteMuseThoroughRelishDissatisfiedAiryIdeal WorldSedentary
Author:William Hazlitt
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“Grace in women has more effect than beauty. We sometimes see a certain fine self-possession, an habitual voluptuousness of character, which reposes on its own sensations and derives pleasure from all around it, that is more irresistible than any other attraction. There is an air of languid enjoyment in such persons, "in their eyes, in their arms, and their hands, and their face," which robs us of ourselves, and draws us by a secret sympathy towards them.”

PersonsSelfSometimesCharacterHandsEyeFacesCertainPleasureSecretGraceAirEffectsArmsFineDrawsPossessionAttractionEnjoymentSensationsIrresistibleReposeHabitual
Book:Sketches and Essays: And Winterslow (essays Written There).
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“There are persons who are never easy unless they are putting your books and papers in order--that is, according to their notions of the matter--and hide things lest they should be lost, where neither the owner nor anybody else can find them. This is a sort of magpie faculty. If anything is left where you want it, it is called litter. There is a pedantry in housewifery, as well as in the gravest concerns. Abraham Tucker complained that whenever his maid servant had been in his library, he could not see comfortably to work again for several days.”

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Author:William Hazlitt
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“If a person has no delicacy, he has you in his power.”

IfsPersonsPowerDelicacy
Book:Essays: On self-love. On the conduct of life: or, Advice to a school-boy. On the fine arts. The fight. On want of money. On the feeling of immortality in youth. The main-chance. The opera. Of persons one would wish to have seen. My first acquaintance with poets. The shyness of scholors. The Vatican. On the spirit of monarchy
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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.”

ThinkingLoveShouldMindFirstsPersonsSometimesBlackQualityExampleGayFairsSightGravesAdmireGoldenBrownLocksLove At First SightAbsurdityBargainsRavensTresses
Book:Table Talk: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things
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“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.”

LifePersonsShowsHandsHumanityTurnsActorsWishActingClassRegardTrainGlassesAffectionDreadResemblanceSecond HandPageantClasses Of Society
Author:William Hazlitt
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