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Quote by William Hazlitt

“If we wish to know the force of human genius we should read Shakespeare. If we wish to see the insignificance of human learning we may only study his commentators. ["On the Ignorance of the Learned"]”

Quote by William Hazlitt

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William Hazlitt
William Hazlitt

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. more

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“[Henry James'] essay's closing lines can either be read neutrally or as a more purposeful wish that this mystery [of Shakespeare's authorship] will one day be resolved by the 'criticism of the future': 'The figured tapestry, the long arras that hides him, is always there ... May it not then be but a question, for the fullness of time, of the finer weapon, the sharper point, the stronger arm, the more extended lunge?' Is Shakespeare hinting here that one day critics will hit upon another, more suitable candidate, identify the individual in whom the man and artist converge and are 'one'? If so, his choice of metaphor - recalling Hamlet's lunge at the arras in the closet scene - is fortunate. Could James have forgotten that the sharp point of Hamlet's weapon finds the wrong man?”

AuthorshipHenry JamesShakespeare Criticism
Book:Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?
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“Dear reader, mon frère, increasingly rare, and less and less willing to descend into the depths of unknown literature to find the new, remember well that, as the great Voltaire said, some sentences are worth more than entire libraries, and to quote Prospero, Me, poor man, my library was a dukedom large enough!... So, of his gentleness, knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me from my own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom!”

ShakespeareShakespeare CriticismShakespeare QuotesShakespeare AphorismsShakespeare FameShakespeare SourcesShakesperare IdentityLiterary Dedication
Book:William Shakespeare Aphoristic Dictionary: With essays by Carl William Brown
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“Shakespeare, with his wisdom and creative ability, enhanced by his brilliant rhetoric, created works truly full of aphorisms and memorable phrases capable of distilling profound insights into human nature, ethics, politics, love, suffering, in practice, into the whole existence.”

ShakespearePrefaceShakespeare CriticismShakespeare QuotesShakespeare AphorismsShakespeare FameShakespeare SourcesShakesperare Identity
Book:William Shakespeare Aphoristic Dictionary: With essays by Carl William Brown
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