William Hazlitt Quotes
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Painters... are the most lively observers of what passes in the world about them, and the closest observers of what passes in their own minds.
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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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Most of the methods for measuring the lapse of time have, I believe, been the contrivance of monks and religious recluses, who, finding time hang heavy on their hands, were at some pains to see how they got rid of it.
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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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I am not, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, a good-natured man; that is, many things annoy me besides what interferes with my own ease and interest. I hate a lie; a piece of injustice wounds me to the quick, though nothing but the report of it reach me. Therefore I have made many enemies and few friends; for the public know nothing of well-wishers, and keep a wary eye on those who would reform them.
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The essence of poetry is will and passion.
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Natural affection is a prejudice; for though we have cause to love our nearest connections better than others, we have no reason to think them better than others.
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There is room enough in human life to crowd almost every art and science in it. If we pass ""no day without a line""-visit no place without the company of a book-we may with ease fill libraries or empty them of their contents. The more we do, the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.
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Dandyism is a species of genius.
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The seat of knowledge is in the head; of wisdom, in the heart. We are sure to judge wrong, if we do not feel right.
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In exploring new and doubtful tracts of speculation, the mind strikes out true and original views; as a drop of water hesitates at first what direction it will take, but afterwards follows its own course.
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Without life there can be no action — no objects of pursuit — no restless desires — no tormenting passions. Hence it is that we fondly cling to it — that we dread its termination as the close, not of enjoyment, but of hope.
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Envy is littleness of soul.
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It is well there is no one without fault; for he would not have a friend in the world. He would seem to belong to s different species.
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No act terminating in itself constitutes greatness.
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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.
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Great thoughts reduced to practice become great acts.
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Defoe says that there were a hundred thousand country fellows in his time ready to fight to the death against popery, without knowing whether popery was a man or a horse.
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It is better to be able neither to read nor write than to be able to do nothing else.
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Faith is necessary to victory.
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Death is the greatest evil, because it cuts off hope.
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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.
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Pride is founded not on the sense of happiness, but on the sense of power.
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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.