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
chiefly free journey leave muse ourselves rid
We go a journey chiefly to be free of all impediments and of all inconveniences; to leave ourselves behind, much more to get rid of others. It is because I want a little breathing-space to muse on indifferent matters. . . .
anniversary birthday celebrate man money monuments notice
When a man is dead, they put money in his coffin, erect monuments to his memory, and celebrate the anniversary of his birthday in set speeches. Would they take any notice of him if he were living? No!
eyes sight sore
What a sight for sore eyes that would be!
cold dull feelings glad impart man neither nor others pleasure share thoughts topic
We are cold to others only when we are dull in ourselves, and have neither thoughts nor feelings to impart to them. Give a man a topic in his head, a throb of pleasure in his heart, and he will be glad to share it with the first person he meets.
absent account afterwards anywhere borrow destiny forget fulfil gave life objects painful recall spend themselves ties travelling wish
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 fulfil our destiny in the place that gave us birth. I should on this account like well enough to spend the whole of my life in travelling abroad, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend afterwards at home!
admiration breed edge takes though
Though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes the edge off admiration
die gradually wholly
We do not die wholly at our deaths: we have moldered away gradually long before.
good repent
We as often repent the good we have done as the ill.
fewer good immediate impression judge less men objects truly women
Women have often more of what is called good sense then men. They have fewer pretensions; are less implicated in theories; and judge of objects more from their immediate and involuntary impression on the mind, and, therefore, more truly and naturally.
forget largest truest
Those who have the largest hearts, have the soundest understandings; and he is the truest philosopher who can forget himself.
highest ill mankind perhaps wisdom wish
To think ill of mankind, and not to wish ill to them, is perhaps the highest wisdom and virtue.
evils great resent
To great evils we submit; we resent little provocations
hear twice willing
We may be willing to tell a story twice but we are never willing to hear it more than once
alter flesh fortune itself mend opportunity original remains shall true
We may, with instruction and opportunity mend our manners, or else alter for the worse, -- as the flesh and fortune shall serve; but the character, the internal, original bias, remains always the same, true to itself to the very last.