William Hazlitt quotes - page 9

Fame is the inheritance not of the dead, but of the living. It is we who look back with lofty pride to the great names of antiquity. (William Hazlitt)
We find many things to which the prohibition of them constitutes the only temptation. View quote
William Hazlitt
The humblest painter is a true scholar; and the best of scholars the scholar of nature. View quote
William Hazlitt
There is no prejudice so strong as that which arises from a fancied exemption from all prejudice. View quote
William Hazlitt
To think ill of mankind and not wish ill to them, is perhaps the highest wisdom and virtue. View quote
William Hazlitt
To be happy, we must be true to nature and carry our age along with us. View quote
William Hazlitt
The English (it must be owned) are rather a foul-mouthed nation. View quote
William Hazlitt
Poetry is all that is worth remembering in life. View quote
William Hazlitt
A hypocrite despises those whom he deceives, but has no respect for himself. He would make a dupe of himself too, if he could. View quote
William Hazlitt
Everything is in motion. Everything flows. Everything is vibrating. View quote
William Hazlitt
Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater. (William Hazlitt)
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. View quote
William Hazlitt
A wise traveler never despises his own country. View quote
William Hazlitt
There is a secret pride in every human heart that revolts at tyranny. You may order and drive an individual, but you cannot make him respect you. View quote
William Hazlitt
The art of pleasing consists in being pleased. View quote
William Hazlitt
A hair in the head is worth two in the brush. View quote
William Hazlitt
Reflection makes men cowards. View quote
William Hazlitt
We often choose a friend as we do a mistress - for no particular excellence in themselves, but merely from some circumstance that flatters our self-love. View quote
William Hazlitt
No one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves. View quote
William Hazlitt
Scholars, like princes, may learn something by being incognito. Yet we see those who cannot go into a bookseller's shop, or bear to be five minutes in a stage-coach, without letting you know who they are. They carry their reputation about with them as the snail does its shell, and sit under its canopy, like the lady in the lobster. I cannot understand this at all. What is the use of a man's always revolving round his own little circle? He must, one should think, be tired of it himself, as well as tire other people. View quote
William Hazlitt
Reputation runs in a vicious circle, and Merit limps behind it, mortified and abashed at its own insignificance. It has been said that the test of fame or popularity is to consider the number of times your name is repeated by others ... So, if you see the same name staring you in the face in great letters at the corner of every street, you involuntarily think the owner of it must be a great man to occupy so large a space in the eye of the town. The appeal is made, in the first instance, to the senses, but it sinks below the surface into the mind. There are various ways of playing one's-self off before the public, and keeping one's name alive. The newspapers, the lamp-posts, the walls of empty houses, the shutters of windows, the blank covers of magazines and reviews, are open to every one. (William Hazlitt)
Dandyism is a variety of genius. View quote
William Hazlitt
Those who speak ill of the spiritual life, although they come and go by day, are like the smith's bellows: they take breath but are not alive. View quote
William Hazlitt
Those who are fond of setting things to rights, have no great objection to seeing them wrong. View quote
William Hazlitt
Travel's greatest purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. View quote
William Hazlitt