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
playing
The world has been doing little else but playing at make-believe all its lifetime.
ambition player being-the-best
I have a much greater ambition to be the best racket player than the best prose writer.
player envy poet
The player envies only the player, the poet envies only the poet.
drama play remarkable
It is remarkable how virtuous and generously disposed every one is at a play.
player greatness men
A great chess-player is not a great man, for he leaves the world as he found it. No act terminating in itself constitutes greatness. This will apply to all displays of power or trials of skill, which are confined to the momentary, individual effort, and construct no permanent image or trophy of themselves without them
men play might
It might be argued, that to be a knave is the gift of fortune, but to play the fool to advantage it is necessary to be a learned man.
crowd nine power ten throw
Every one in a crowd has the power to throw dirt: nine out of ten have the inclination
best insults submit
The best way to procure insults is to submit to them.
arbitrary ballot power screen useful
The ballot is only useful as a screen from arbitrary power.
affairs confined daily men motives opportunity rest small study understanding
The thing is plain. All that men really understand, is confined to a very small compass; to their daily affairs and experience; to what they have an opportunity to know, and motives to study or practice. The rest is affectation and imposture.
english-critic great himself man truly
No truly great man ever thought himself so.
english-critic faults friend talk
I like a friend better for having faults that one can talk about.
carriage existence graceful heard indebted nose scarcely whose
A person may be indebted for a nose or an eye, for a graceful carriage or a voluble discourse, to a great-aunt or uncle, whose existence he has scarcely heard of.
body imagination life outset
At the outset of life . . . our imagination has a body to it.