 |
Ignorance & Stupidity
|
|
There is no one thoroughly despicable. We cannot descend much lower than an idiot; and an idiot has some advantages over a wise man.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
There are many who talk on from ignorance rather than from knowledge, and who find the former an inexhaustible fund of conversation.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Imagination
|
|
|
We are the creatures of imagination, passion, and self-will, more than of reason or even of self-interest. Even in the common transactions and daily intercourse of life, we are governed by whim, caprice, prejudice, or accident. The falling of a teacup puts us out of temper for the day; and a quarrel that commenced about the pattern of a gown may end only with our lives.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Inheritance
|
|
|
The are of will-making chiefly consists in baffling the importunity of expectation.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Insults
|
|
|
The best way to procure insults is to submit to them.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
Every one in a crowd has the power to throw dirt; none out of ten have the inclination.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Integrity
|
|
|
There is nothing more likely to drive a man mad, than the being unable to get rid of the idea of the distinction between right and wrong, and an obstinate, constitutional preference of the true to the agreeable.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
Man is a make-believe animal -- he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Kindness
|
|
|
The person whose doors I enter with most pleasure, and quit with most regret, never did me the smallest favor.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
Our friends are generally ready to do everything for us, except the very thing we wish them to do.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Knowledge
|
|
|
Though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes off the edge of admiration.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Leadership
|
|
|
Those who can command themselves command others.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Learning
|
|
|
Learning is, in too many cases, but a foil to common sense; a substitute for true knowledge. Books are less often made use of as spectacles to look at nature with, than as blinds to keep out its strong light and shifting scenery from weak eyes and indolent dispositions. The learned are mere literary drudges.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Liberty
|
|
|
The slaves of power mind the cause they have to serve, because their own interest is concerned; but the friends of liberty always sacrifice their cause, which is only the cause of humanity, to their own spleen, vanity, and self-opinion.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Love
|
|
|
The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves. We cannot force love.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
|
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.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Media
|
|
|
Belief is with them mechanical, voluntary: they believe what they are paid for -- they swear to that which turns to account. Do you suppose, that after years spent in this manner, they have any feeling left answering to the difference between truth and falsehood?
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Memory
|
|
|
To be remembered after we are dead, is but poor recompense for being treated with contempt while we are living.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Mind, the
|
|
|
The mind of man is like a clock that is always running down, and requires to be constantly wound up.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Mistakes
|
|
|
It is well that there is no one without a fault; for he would not have a friend in the world.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Morals
|
|
|
Every man, in his own opinion, forms an exception to the ordinary rules of morality.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Oceans
|
|
|
I hate to be near the sea, and to hear it roaring and raging like a wild beast in its den. It puts me in mind of the everlasting efforts of the human mind, struggling to be free, and ending just where it began.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Opinion
|
|
|
Nothing is more unjust or capricious than public opinion.
-William Hazlitt
|
|
Pain
|
|
|
The smallest pain in our little finger gives us more concern than the destruction of millions of our fellow beings.
-William Hazlitt
|
Books by and about William Hazlitt