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William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt Quotes

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Famous William Hazlitt Quotes

“Leave me to my repose,’ is the motto of the sleeping and the dead. You might as well ask the paralytic to leap from his chair and throw away his crutch, or, without a miracle, to ‘take up his bed and walk,’ as expect the learned reader to throw down his book and think for himself. He clings to it for his intellectual support; and his dread of being left to himself is like the horror of a vacuum. He can only breathe a learned atmosphere, as other men breathe common air. He is a borrower of sense. He has no ideas of his own, and must live on those of other people. The habit of supplying our ideas from foreign sources ‘enfeebles all internal strength of thought,’ as a course of dram-drinking destroys the tone of the stomach.”

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Book:The Complete Works of William Hazlitt
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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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“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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“Give me the clear blue sky over my head, and the green turf beneath my feet, a winding road before me, and a three hours' march to dinner - and then to thinking! ... I begin to feel, think, and be myself again. Instead of an awkward silence, broken by attempts at wit or dull common-places, mine is that undisturbed silence of the heart which alone is perfect eloquence.”

ThinkingGivingFeelsHeartThreeHoursPerfectCommonSilenceClearFeetSkyMinesBrokenGive MeBlueGreenDinnerWitDullMarchAwkwardEloquenceBlue SkyTurfSilence Of The HeartClear Blue SkyWinding Road
Book:Table Talk: Essays on Men and Manners
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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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“Society is a more level surface than we imagine. Wise men or absolute fools are hard to be met with, as there are few giants or dwarfs. The heaviest charge we can bring against the general texture of society is that it is commonplace. Our fancied superiority to others is in some one thing which we think most of because we excel in it, or have paid most attention to it; whilst we overlook their superiority to us in something else which they set equal and exclusive store by.”

ThinkingMenHardLevelsAttentionWiseImagineOne ThingFoolMetsEqualPaidAbsolutesSurfaceStoresGiantsSuperiorityExclusiveCommonplaceTextureDwarfs
Author:William Hazlitt
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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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