 |
Ability
|
|
Men are in numberless instances qualified for certain things, for no other reason than because they are qualified for nothing else.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Action(s)
|
|
|
Lest he should wander irretrievably from the right path, he stands still.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
You know more of a road by having traveled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Actors, Acting
|
|
|
They are the only honest hypocrites, their life is a voluntary dream, a studied madness.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
We must overact our part in some measure, in order to produce any effect at all.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
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.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Age
|
|
|
To be happy, we must be true to nature, and carry our age along with us.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
The worst old age is that of the mind.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Anger
|
|
|
Good temper is one of the greatest preservers of the features.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
Good temper is an estate for life.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Appearance
|
|
|
First impressions are often the truest, as we find (not infrequently) to our cost, when we have been wheedled out of them by plausible professions or studied actions. A man's look is the work of years; it is stamped on his countenance by the events of his whole life, nay, more, by the hand of nature, and it is not to be got rid of easily.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Argument & Debate
|
|
|
When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Assumptions
|
|
|
If the world were good for nothing else, it is a fine subject for speculation.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Authors & Writing
|
|
|
The characteristic of Chaucer is intensity: of Spencer, remoteness: of Milton elevation and of Shakespeare everything.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
So I have loitered my life away, reading books, looking at pictures, going to plays, hearing, thinking, writing on what pleased me best. I have wanted only one thing to make me happy, but wanting that have wanted everything.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Bravery
|
|
|
Gallantry to women -- the sure road to their favor -- is nothing but the appearance of extreme devotion to all their wants and wishes, a delight in their satisfaction, and a confidence in yourself as being able to contribute toward it.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
We are very much what others think of us. The reception our observations meet with gives us courage to proceed, or damps our efforts.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Business
|
|
|
The most sensible people to be met with in society are men of business and of the world, who argue from what they see and know, instead of spinning cobweb distinctions of what things ought to be.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Career, Vocation
|
|
|
People of genius do not excel in any profession because they work in it, they work in it because they excel.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
The player envies only the player, the poet envies only the poet.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
The world judge of men by their ability in their profession, and we judge of ourselves by the same test: for it is on that on which our success in life depends.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Comedy
|
|
|
Comedy naturally wears itself out -- destroys the very food on which it lives; and by constantly and successfully exposing the follies and weaknesses of mankind to ridicule, in the end leaves itself nothing worth laughing at.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Company, Companions
|
|
|
A grave blockhead should always go about with a lively one -- they show one another off to the best advantage.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Confidence
|
|
|
As is our confidence, so is our capacity.
-William Hazlitt
|
Books by and about William Hazlitt