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
drive likely mad preference truth
There is nothing more likely to drive a person mad than . . . an obstinate, constitutional preference of the truth to the agreeable.
answering belief believe difference feeling left media paid spent swear truth turns
Belief is with them mechanical, voluntary: they believe what they are paid for -- they swear to that which turns to account. Do you suppose, that after years spent in this manner, they have any feeling left answering to the difference between truth and falsehood?
affect faith folly laugh ourselves truth whether willing
We affect to laugh at the folly of those who put faith in nostrums, but are willing to try ourselves whether there is any truth in them.
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.
truth men order
An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offence; a vain man, in order that it may.
religious truth political
Political truth is libel; religious truth, blasphemy.
regret truth able
One truth discovered, one pang of regret at not being able to express it, is better than all the fluency and flippancy in the world.
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.