William Hazlitt Quotes
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Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves.
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Wrong dressed out in pride, pomp, and circumstance has more attraction than abstract right.
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Who likes not his business, his business likes not him.
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Man is an intellectual animal, and therefore an everlasting contradiction to himself. His senses centre in himself, his ideas reach to the ends of the universe; so that he is torn in pieces between the two, without a possibility of its ever being otherwise.
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The perfect joys of heaven do not satisfy the cravings of nature.
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First impressions are often the truest, as we find (not unfrequently) to our cost when we have been wheedled out of them by plausible professions or 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.
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It might be argued, that to be a knave is the gift of fortune, but to play the fool to advantage it is necessary to be a learned man.
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Grace has been defined as the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul.
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Rules and models destroy genius and art.
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The world loves to be amused by hollow professions, to be deceived by flattering appearances, to live in a state of hallucination; and can forgive everything but the plain, downright, simple, honest truth.
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Nothing is more unjust or capricious than public opinion.
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Good temper is one of the great preservers of the features.
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The soul of dispatch is decision.
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Knowledge is pleasure as well as power.
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Those who are pleased with the fewest things know the least, as those who are pleased with everything know nothing.
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Cant is the voluntary overcharging or prolongation of a real sentiment; hypocrisy is the setting up a pretension to a feeling you never had and have no wish for.
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Do not quarrel with the world too soon; for, bad as it may be, it is the best we have to live in, here. If railing would have made it better, it would have been reformed long ago.
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Our opinions are not our own, but in the power of sympathy. If a person tells us a palpable falsehood, we not only dare not contradict him, but we dare hardly disbelieve him to his face. A lie boldly uttered has the effect of truth for the instant.
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The most silent people are generally those who think most highly of themselves.
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By conversing with the mighty dead, we imbibe sentiment with knowledge. We become strongly attached to those who can no longer either hurt or serve us, except through the influence which they exert over the mind. We feel the presence of that power which gives immortality to human thoughts and actions, and catch the flame of enthusiasm from all nations and ages.
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Some one is generally sure to be the sufferer by a joke.
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There is nothing good to be had in the country, or if there is, they will not let you have it.
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The secret of the difficulties of those people who make a great deal of money, and yet are always in want of it, is this-they throw it away as soon as they get it on the first whim or extravagance that strikes them, and have nothing left to meet ordinary expenses or discharge old debts.
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Old friendships are like meats served up repeatedly, cold, comfortless, and distasteful. The stomach turns against them.