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No man is truly great who is great only in his lifetime. The test of greatness is the page of history.
William Hazlitt -
Men of the greatest genius are not always the most prodigal of their encomiums. But then it is when their range of power is confined, and they have in fact little perception, except of their own particular kind of excellence.
William Hazlitt
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The best kind of conversation is that which may be called thinking aloud.
William Hazlitt -
A man's reputation is not in his own keeping, but lies at the mercy of the profligacy of others. Calumny requires no proof. The throwing out [of] malicious imputations against any character leaves a stain, which no after-refutation can wipe out. To create an unfavorable impression, it is not necessary that certain things should be true, but that they have been said. The imagination is of so delicate a texture that even words wound it.
William Hazlitt -
A great chess-player is not a great man, for he leaves the world as he found it. No act terminating in itself constitutes greatness. This will apply to all displays of power or trials of skill, which are confined to the momentary, individual effort, and construct no permanent image or trophy of themselves without them
William Hazlitt -
Nothing is more unjust or capricious than public opinion.
William Hazlitt -
Any one may mouth out a passage with a theatrical cadence, or get upon stilts to tell his thoughts; but to write or speak with propriety and simplicity is a more difficult task. Thus it is easy to affect a pompous style, to use a word twice as big as the thing you want to express; it is not so easy to pitch upon the very word that exactly fits it.
William Hazlitt -
A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles.
William Hazlitt
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When we forget old friends, it is a sign we have forgotten ourselves.
William Hazlitt -
By retaliating our sufferings on the heads of those we love, we get rid of a present uneasiness and incur lasting remorse. With the accomplishment of our revenge our fondness returns; so that we feel the injury we have done them, even more than they do.
William Hazlitt -
Those who wish to forget painful thoughts do well to absent themselves for a while from, the ties and objects that recall them; but we can be said only to fulfill our destiny in the place that gave us birth.
William Hazlitt -
Dr. Johnson was a lazy learned man who liked to think and talk better than to read or write; who, however, wrote much and well, but too often by rote.
William Hazlitt -
It is easier taking the beaten path than making our way over bogs and precipices. The great difficulty in philosophy is to come to every question with a mind fresh and unshackled by former theories, though strengthened by exercise and information.
William Hazlitt -
Envy is the deformed and distorted offspring of egotism; and when we reflect on the strange and disproportioned character of the parent, we cannot wonder at the perversity and waywardness of the child.
William Hazlitt
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Grace is the absence of everything that indicates pain or difficulty, hesitation or incongruity.
William Hazlitt -
Our contempt for others proves nothing but the illiberality and narrowness of our own views.
William Hazlitt -
A situation in a public office is secure, but laborious and mechanical, and without the great springs of life, hope and fear.
William Hazlitt -
Everything is in motion. Everything flows. Everything is vibrating.
William Hazlitt -
The most learned are often the most narrow minded.
William Hazlitt -
Society is a more level surface than we imagine. Wise men or absolute fools are hard to be met with, as there are few giants or dwarfs.
William Hazlitt
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The present is an age of talkers, and not of doers; and the reason is, that the world is growing old. We are so far advanced in the Arts and Sciences, that we live in retrospect, and dote on past achievement.
William Hazlitt -
The smallest pain in our little finger gives us more concern than the destruction of millions of our fellow beings.
William Hazlitt -
Popularity is neither fame nor greatness.
William Hazlitt -
The greatest pleasure in life is that of reading while we are young. I have had as much of this pleasure perhaps as any one.
William Hazlitt