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
vanity choices idolatry
A woman's vanity is interested in making the object of her choice the god of her idolatry.
vanity admiration driven
Conceit is vanity driven from all other shifts, and forced to appeal to itself for admiration.
journey world
One of the pleasantest things in the world is going on a journey; but I like to go by myself.
mind world painting
Painters... are the most lively observers of what passes in the world about them, and the closest observers of what passes in their own minds.
wealth ends resources
He who draws upon his own resources easily comes to an end of his wealth.
heart desire break
It is better to desire than to enjoy, to love than to be loved.
thinking advice sage
We do not attend to the advice of the sage and experienced because we think they are old, forgetting that they once were young and placed in the same situations as ourselves.
air breathing-space views
The confined air of a metropolis is hurtful to the minds and bodies of those who have never lived out of it. It is impure, stagnant--without breathing-space to allow a larger view of ourselves or others--and gives birth to a puny, sickly, unwholesome, and degenerate race of beings.
views disrespect prove
Our contempt for others proves nothing but the illiberality and narrowness of our own views.
desire enjoy enjoyment
While we desire, we do not enjoy; and with enjoyment desire ceases.
sports strong history
The history of mankind is a romance, a mask, a tragedy, constructed upon the principles of POETICAL JUSTICE; it is a noble or royal hunt, in which what is sport to the few is death to the many, and in which the spectators halloo and encourage the strong to set upon the weak, and cry havoc in the chase, though they do not share in the spoil.
honesty party men
An honest man is respected by all parties.
humanity dens mets
Humanity is to be met with in a den of robbers.
pain men justice
There is evil poured upon the earth from the overflowings of corruption-- Sickness, and poverty, and pain, and guilt, and madness, and sorrow; But, as the water from a fountain riseth and sinketh to its level, Ceaselessly toileth justice to equalize the lots of men.