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
genius merit assumption
The assumption of merit is easier, less embarrassing, and more effectual than the actual attainment of it.
happiness joy desire
The wretched are in this respect fortunate, that they have the strongest yearning after happiness; and to desire is in some sense to enjoy.
friendship thinking prejudice
Natural affection is a prejudice; for though we have cause to love our nearest connections better than others, we have no reason to think them better than others.
flattery implicit
There is no flattery so adroit or effectual as that of implicit assent.
failure winning games
One is always more vexed at losing a game of any sort by a single hole or ace, than if one has never had a chance of winning it.
college oxford london
You will hear more good things on the outside of a stagecoach from London to Oxford than if you were to pass a twelvemonth with the undergraduates, or heads of colleges, of that famous university.
truth substance immortal
One truth discovered is immortal, and entitles its author to be so; for, like a new substance in nature, it cannot be destroyed.
justice judging prejudice
Familiarity confounds all traits of distinction; interest and prejudice take away the power of judging.
pride abstract circumstances
Wrong dressed out in pride, pomp, and circumstance has more attraction than abstract right.
pride justice community
The great have private feelings of their own, to which the interests of humanity and justice must curtsy. Their interests are so far from being the same as those of the community, that they are in direct and necessary opposition to them; their power is at the expense of OUR weakness; their riches of OUR poverty; their pride of OUR degradation; their splendour of OUR wretchedness; their tyranny of OUR servitude.
littles left
Those who have little shall have less, and that those who have much shall take all that others have left.
old-friends forgotten forget
When we forget old friends, it is a sign we have forgotten ourselves.
eye thinking clouds
However we may flatter ourselves to the contrary, our friends think no higher of us than the world do. They see us through the jaundiced or distrustful eyes of others. They may know better, but their feelings are governed by popular prejudice. Nay, they are more shy of us (when under a cloud) than even strangers; for we involve them in a common disgrace, or compel them to embroil themselves in continual quarrels and disputes in our defense.
mean thinking justice
To think justly, we must understand what others mean. To know the value of our thoughts, we must try their effect on other minds.