William Hazlitt Quotes
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A hypocrite despises those whom he deceives, but has no respect for himself. He would make a dupe of himself too, if he could.
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No man can thoroughly master more than one art or science.
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The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.
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We never do anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing it.
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A taste for liberal art is necessary to complete the character of a gentleman, Science alone is hard and mechanical. It exercises the understanding upon things out of ourselves, while it leaves the affections unemployed, or engrossed with our own immediate, narrow interests.
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Or have I passed my time in pouring words like water into empty sieves, rolling a stone up a hill and then down again, trying to prove an argument in the teeth of facts, and looking for causes in the dark, and not finding them?
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We learn to curb our will and keep our overt actions within the bounds of humanity, long before we can subdue our sentiments and imaginations to the same mild tone.
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True friendship is self-love at second-hand.
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One is always more vexed at losing a game of any sort by a single hole or ace, than if one has never had a chance of winning it.
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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.
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General principles are not the less true or important because from their nature they elude immediate observation; they are like the air, which is not the less necessary because we neither see nor feel it.
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The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.
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To speak highly of one with whom we are intimate is a species of egotism. Our modesty as well as our jealousy teaches us caution on this subject.
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A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles.
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We are cold to others only when we are dull in ourselves.
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We imagine that the admiration of the works of celebrated men has become common, because the admiration of their names has become so.
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He is a hypocrite who professes what he does not believe; not he who does not practice all he wishes or approves.
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Envy is littleness of soul.
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The smallest pain in our little finger gives us more concern than the destruction of millions of our fellow beings.
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The assumption of merit is easier, less embarrassing, and more effectual than the actual attainment of it.
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There is no one thoroughly despicable. We cannot descend much lower than an idiot; and an idiot has some advantages over a wise man.
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We are all of us, more or less, the slaves of opinion.
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I like a person who knows his own mind and sticks to it; who sees at once what, in given circumstances, is to be done, and does it.
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We do not attend to the advice of the sage and experienced because we think they are old, forgetting that they once were young and placed in the same situations as ourselves.