William Hazlitt Quotes

The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.

A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles.

Grace has been defined as the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul.

Do not keep on with a mockery of friendship after the substance is gone - but part, while you can part friends. Bury the carcass of friendship: it is not worth embalming.

There is no prejudice so strong as that which arises from a fancied exemption from all prejudice.

Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves.

The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.

Fashion is gentility running away from vulgarity and afraid of being overtaken

He who expects from a great name in politics, in philosophy, in art, equal greatness in other things, is little versed in human nature. Our strength lies in our weakness. The learned in books are ignorant of the world. He who is ignorant of books is often well acquainted with other things; for life is of the same length in the learned and unlearned; the mind cannot be idle; if it is not taken up with one thing, it attends to another through choice or necessity; and the degree of previous capacity in one class or another is a mere lottery.

I'm not smart, but I like to observe. Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.

We are very much what others think of us. The reception our observations meet with gives us courage to proceed, or damps our efforts.

To be wiser than other men is to be honester than they; and strength of mind is only courage to see and speak the truth.

Man is a make-believe animal: he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part.

Satirists gain the applause of others through fear, not through love.

Dandyism is a species of genius.

One said a tooth drawer was a kind of unconscionable trade, because his trade was nothing else but to take away those things whereby every man gets his living.

One truth discovered, one pang of regret at not being able to express it, is better than all the fluency and flippancy in the world.

They are, as it were, train-bearers in the pageant of life, and hold a glass up to humanity, frailer than itself. We see ourselves at second-hand in them: they show us all that we are, all that we wish to be, and all that we dread to be. What brings the resemblance nearer is, that, as they imitate us, we, in our turn, imitate them. There is no class of society whom so many persons regard with affection as actors.

The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much.

To be capable of steady friendship or lasting love, are the two greatest proofs, not only of goodness of heart, but of strength of mind.

The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.

He who undervalues himself is justly undervalued by others.

The most insignificant people are the most apt to sneer at others. They are safe from reprisals. And have no hope of rising in their own self esteem but by lowering their neighbors.

Those only deserve a monument who do not need one.

The garb of religion is the best cloak for power.

A great mind is one that can forget or look beyond itself.

Violent antipathies are always suspicious, and betray a secret affinity.

Horus non numero nisi serenas (I count only the sunny hours).

Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.

Mankind are an incorrigible race. Give them but bugbears and idols -- it is all that they ask; the distinctions of right and wrong, of truth and falsehood, of good and evil, are worse than indifferent to them.

The most learned are often the most narrow minded.

Nothing is more unjust or capricious than public opinion.

The smallest pain in our little finger gives us more concern than the destruction of millions of our fellow beings.

An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offence; a vain man, in order that it may.

To be remembered after we are dead, is but poor recompense for being treated with contempt while we are living.

People try to reconcile you to a disappointment in love by asking why you should cherish a passion for an object that has proved itself worthless. Had you known this before, you would not have encouraged the passion; but that having been once formed, knowledge does not destroy it. If we have drank poison, finding it out does not prevent its being in our veins: so passion leaves its poison in the mind!

Rules and models destroy genius and art.

There cannot be a surer proof of low origin, or of an innate meanness of disposition, than to be always talking and thinking of being genteel.

The ignorance of the world leaves one at the mercy of its malice.

If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory.

We are never so much disposed to quarrel with others as when we are dissatisfied with ourselves.

The diffusion of taste is not the same thing as the improvement of taste.

If the world were good for nothing else, it is a fine subject for speculation.

The more you do, the more you can do.

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be.

Grace in women has more effect than beauty.

You will hear more good things on the outside of a stagecoach from London to Oxford than if you were to pass a twelvemonth with the undergraduates, or heads of colleges, of that famous university.

Prejudice is the child of ignorance.

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.

We had rather do anything than acknowledge the merit of another if we can help it. We cannot bear a superior or an equal. Hence ridicule is sure to prevail over truth, for the malice of mankind, thrown into the scale, gives the casting weight.