William Hazlitt
William Hazlitt
William Hazlittwas an English writer, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. He is also acknowledged as the finest art critic of his age. Despite his high standing among historians of literature and art, his work is currently little read and mostly out of print...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionCritic
Date of Birth10 April 1778
hatred littles indifference
Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust; hatred alone is immortal.
essence world prejudice
Almost every sect of Christianity is a perversion of its essence, to accommodate it to the prejudices of the world.
spiritual alive speak
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.
idols may admiration
Though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes off the edge of admiration.
birthday time age
To be happy, we must be true to nature and carry our age along with us.
ambition incentives
The incentive to ambition is the love of power.
player envy poet
The player envies only the player, the poet envies only the poet.
gratitude shame
The public have neither shame or gratitude.
wise way world
The way to get on in the world is to be neither more nor less wise, neither better nor worse than your neighbours.
vices heroism virtue
There is a heroism in crime as well as in virtue. Vice and infamy have their altars and their religion.
appreciation courage thinking
We are very much what others think of us. The reception our observations meet with gives us courage to proceed, or damps our efforts.
painter scholar
The humblest painter is a true scholar; and the best of scholars the scholar of nature.
foul nations
The English (it must be owned) are rather a foul-mouthed nation.
leisure busier
The busier we are the more leisure we have.