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
choice man virtue
A man must make his choice not only between virtue and vice, but between different virtues.
thinking wish virtue
To think ill of mankind and not wish ill to them, is perhaps the highest wisdom and virtue.
race ridiculous virtue
To a superior race of being the pretensions of mankind to extraordinary sanctity and virtue must seem... ridiculous.
vices heroism virtue
There is a heroism in crime as well as in virtue. Vice and infamy have their altars and their religion.
men vices virtue
Vice is man's nature: virtue is a habit--or a mask.
speak virtue ill
The greatest offence against virtue is to speak ill of it.
men genius virtue
Death cancels everything but truth; and strips a man of everything but genius and virtue. It is a sort of natural canonization.
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.