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
landscape painting misanthropy
Landscape painting is the obvious resource of misanthropy.
echoes voice sound
The public is so in awe of its own opinion that it never dares to form any, but catches up the first idle rumour, lest it should be behindhand in its judgment, and echoes it till it is deafened with the sound of its own voice.
luxury poverty rich
Poverty, labor, and calamity are not without their luxuries, which the rich, the indolent, and the fortunate in vain seek for.
secrecy misfortunes
Keep your misfortunes to yourself.
knowing people sake
People addicted to secrecy are so without knowing why; they are not so for cause, but for secrecy's sake.
world reason said
One said he wondered that leather was not dearer than any other thing. Being demanded a reason: because, saith he, it is more stood upon than any other thing in the world.
faults titles details
The title of Ultracrepidarian critics has been given to those persons who find fault with small and insignificant details.
justice done world
Those are ever the most ready to do justice to others, who feel that the world has done them justice.
views water mind
In exploring new and doubtful tracts of speculation, the mind strikes out true and original views; as a drop of water hesitates at first what direction it will take, but afterwards follows its own course.
tired boredom painting
You are never tired of painting, because you have to set down not what you know already, but what you have just discovered.
sarcasm men differences
Vice is man's nature: virtue is a habit -- or a mask. . . . The foregoing maxim shows the difference between truth and sarcasm.
thinking fool knavery
A knave thinks himself a fool, all the time he is not making a fool of some other person.
hypocrite hypocrisy
Asleep, nobody is a hypocrite
names argument eloquence
Of all eloquence a nickname is the most concise; of all arguments the most unanswerable.