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
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.
race ridiculous virtue
To a superior race of being the pretensions of mankind to extraordinary sanctity and virtue must seem... ridiculous.
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.
conceited self bears
We can bear to be deprived of everything but our self-conceit.
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.
memories poor contempt
To be remembered after we are dead, is but poor recompense for being treated with contempt while we are living.
genius dandyism variety
Dandyism is a variety of genius.
pride names inheritance
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.
friendship faults
I like a friend the better for having faults that one can talk about.