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
changed conclusion fine high insipid nor pleasure progress schemes seeing society sort tend tone tragedies
If the schemes of Utopians could be realized, the tone of society would be changed from what it is, into a sort of insipid high life. There could be no fine tragedies written; nor would there be any pleasure in seeing them. We tend to this conclusion already with the progress of civilization.
playing
The world has been doing little else but playing at make-believe all its lifetime.
body imagination life outset
At the outset of life . . . our imagination has a body to it.
duty general good immediate man owes portion special
Right, in a word, is the duty which each man owes to himself; or it is that portion of the general good of which (as being principally interested) he is made the special judge, and which is put under his immediate keeping.
creation knew tired
One is never tired of painting, because you have to set down, not what you knew already, but what you have just discovered. There is a continual creation out of nothing going on.
breaking english-critic persons pleasure promises
Some persons make promises for the pleasure of breaking them.
anyone classical consider education fool himself narrow passed regular
Anyone who has passed through the regular gradations of a classical education, and is not made a fool by it, may consider himself as having had a very narrow escape.
english-critic faults friend talk
I like a friend better for having faults that one can talk about.
attentions ceremony paying people receive return shall soon tired toward treated
If we use no ceremony toward others, we shall be treated without any. People are soon tired of paying trifling attentions to those who receive them with coldness, and return them with neglect.
believes die man shall
No young man believes he shall ever die
life poetry worth
All that is worth remembering of life is the poetry of it
hypocrisy hypocrite practice wishes
He is a hypocrite who professes what he does not believe; not he who does not practice all he wishes or approves
ancient dark modern power separates shore stood
He stood bewildered, not appalled, on that dark shore which separates the ancient and the modern world. . . . He is power, passion, self-will personified.
excel genius labor men profession
Men of genius do not excel in any profession because they labor in it, but they labor in it because they excel