Home / Authors / William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt Quotes

Writer

William Hazlitt, born on April 10, 1778, was an influential English essayist and literary critic. His works are renowned for their sharp observations and profound insights, which have had a lasting impact on 19th-century British literature.

Filter quotes by topic

All Men Ifs Mind World Thinking May People Giving Persons Wells Art Knows Littles Opinion Feels Virtue Life Book Objects Passion

Famous William Hazlitt Quotes

“Vice is man's nature: virtue is a habit -- or a mask. . . . The foregoing maxim shows the difference between truth and sarcasm.”

Men Shows Differences Virtue Habit Vices Mask Sarcasm Maxims

Book:The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt

Source: The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt

“A man in love prefers his passion to every other consideration, and is fonder of his mistress than he is of virtue. Should she prove vicious, she makes vice lovely in his eyes.”

Men Love Should Eye Passion Virtue Prove Vices Lovely His Eyes Consideration Vicious Mistress

Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

“Vice is man's nature: virtue is a habit--or a mask.”

Men Virtue Habit Vices Mask

Book:The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt

Source: The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt

“The fear of punishment may be necessary to the suppression of vice; but it also suspends the finer motives of virtue.”

May Virtue Vices Punishment Motive Suppression

Book:Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].

Source: Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].

“Virtue steals, like a guilty thing, into the secret haunts of vice and infamy, clings to their devoted victim, and will not be driven quite away. Nothing can destroy the human heart.”

Humans Heart Secret Virtue Victim Vices Driven Stealing Guilty Devoted Human Heart Infamy

Book:The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt

Source: The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt

“Death cancels everything but truth; and strips a man of everything but genius and virtue. It is a sort of natural canonization.”

Men Natural Virtue Genius

Author:William Hazlitt

“The greatest offence against virtue is to speak ill of it.”

Speak Virtue Ill Offence

Author:William Hazlitt

“We do not like our friends the worse because they sometimes give us an opportunity to rail at them heartily. Their faults reconcile us to their virtues.”

Giving Sometimes Opportunity Virtue Faults Reconcile Rail

Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

“There is some virtue in almost every vice, except hypocrisy; and even that, while it is a mockery of virtue, is at the same time a compliment to it.”

Virtue Vices Hypocrisy Compliment Mockery

Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

“I have known persons without a friend--never any one without some virtue. The virtues of the former conspired with their vices to make the whole world their enemies.”

World Persons Whole Known Enemy Virtue Vices Whole World Former

Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

“Features alone do not run in the blood; vices and virtues, genius and folly, are transmitted through the same sure but unseen channel.”

Running Family Virtue Blood Genius Vices Features Folly Unseen Vice And Virtue

Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

“To think ill of mankind and not wish ill to them, is perhaps the highest wisdom and virtue.”

Thinking Wish Virtue Mankind Highest Ill Humankind

Book:Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].

Source: Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].

“There is a heroism in crime as well as in virtue. Vice and infamy have their altars and their religion.”

Wells Virtue Crime Vices Heroism Altars Infamy Criminality

Book:Sketches and Essays

Source: Sketches and Essays

“To a superior race of being the pretensions of mankind to extraordinary sanctity and virtue must seem... ridiculous.”

Seems Race Virtue Mankind Extraordinary Ridiculous Superiors Sanctity Pretension

Book:The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt

Source: The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt

“Let a man's talents or virtues be what they may, he will only feel satisfaction in his society as he is satisfied in himself.”

Men Feels May Virtue Talent Acceptance Satisfaction Satisfied Self Acceptance

Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

“True friendship is self-love at second hand; where, as in a flattering mirror we may see our virtues magnified and our errors softened, and where we may fancy our opinion of ourselves confirmed by an impartial and faithful witness.”

May Real Self Hands Opinion Virtue Self Love Mirrors Errors Witness Faithful Fancy Real Friends True Friend True Friendship Flattering Second Hand

Book:The Plain Speaker: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things

Source: The Plain Speaker: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things

“The pleasure of hating, like a poisonous mineral, eats into the heart of religion, and turns it to ranking spleen and bigotry; it makes patriotism an excuse for carrying fire, pestilence, and famine into other lands: it leaves to virtue nothing but the spirit of censoriousness.”

Heart Spirit Hate Turns Justice Pleasure Virtue Fire Land Diversity Social Justice Excuse Bigotry Famine Minerals Poisonous Ranking Pestilence Spleen

Author:William Hazlitt

“Of all virtues, magnanimity is the rarest. There are a hundred persons of merit for one who willingly acknowledges it in another.”

Persons Character Virtue Personality Hundred Acknowledge Merit Magnanimity

Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

“As hypocrisy is said to be the highest compliment to virtue, the art of lying is the strongest acknowledgment of the force of truth.”

Art Said Lying Force Virtue Highest Hypocrisy Strongest Compliment Acknowledgment

Book:Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)

“Modesty is the lowest of the virtues, and is a real confession of the deficiency it indicates. He who undervalues himself is justly undervalued by others.”

Real Virtue Humility Confession Modesty Lowest Deficiency Undervalued Humility And Modesty

Book:The Miscellaneous Works

Source: The Miscellaneous Works

“The confession of our failings is a thankless office. It savors less of sincerity or modesty than of ostentation. It seems as if we thought our weaknesses as good as other people's virtues.”

People Ifs Seems Virtue Failing Honesty Office Weakness Sincerity Confession Modesty Thankless Ostentation

Author:William Hazlitt

“The measure of any man's virtue is what he would do, if he had neither the laws nor public opinion, nor even his own prejudices, to control him.”

Ifs Men Law Opinion Virtue Prejudice Public Opinion

Book:The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt

Source: The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt

About the Author

Born: April 10, 1778
Died: September 18, 1830
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 633

Related Topics

Men Ifs Mind World Thinking May People Giving Persons Wells Art Knows Littles Opinion Feels Virtue Life Book Objects Passion

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)Related source material

Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].Related source material

The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh HuntRelated source material

Sketches and EssaysRelated source material

Table Talk: Opinions on Books, Men, and ThingsRelated source material

Table talkRelated source material

The Collected Works of William Hazlitt: Fugitive writingsRelated source material

Men and manners: sketches and essaysRelated source material

Sketches and Essays by W. H. Now first collected [and edited] by his sonRelated source material

The Miscellaneous WorksRelated source material

Similar Authors

Francois de La RochefoucauldBrowse related quotes
Samuel JohnsonBrowse related quotes
Jean de la BruyereBrowse related quotes
Joseph AddisonBrowse related quotes
Charles Caleb ColtonBrowse related quotes
Michel de MontaigneBrowse related quotes
Ralph Waldo EmersonBrowse related quotes
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheBrowse related quotes
Blaise PascalBrowse related quotes
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron LyttonBrowse related quotes