Our contempt for others proves nothing but the illiberality and narrowness of our own views. William Hazlitt More Quotes by William Hazlitt More Quotes From William Hazlitt I am proud up to the point of equality; everything above or below that appears to me arrant impertinence or abject meanness. William Hazlitt meanness proud class Confidence gives a fool the advantage over a wise man. William Hazlitt wise giving men Wonder at the first sight of works of art may be the effect of ignorance and novelty; but real admiration and permanent delight in them are the growth of taste and knowledge. William Hazlitt ignorance real art It may be made a question whether men grow wiser as they grow older, anymore than they grow stronger or healthier or honest. William Hazlitt stronger age men A situation in a public office is secure, but laborious and mechanical, and without the great springs of life, hope and fear. William Hazlitt anxiety office spring We trifle with, make sport of, and despise those who are attached to us, and follow those that fly from us. William Hazlitt despise hate sports By despising all that has preceded us, we teach others to despise ourselves. William Hazlitt self-hate despise hate First impressions are often the truest, as we find (not unfrequently) to our cost when we have been wheedled out of them by plausible professions or actions. A man's look is the work of years, it is stamped on his countenance by the events of his whole life, nay, more, by the hand of nature, and it is not to be got rid of easily. William Hazlitt men hands years Taste is nothing but an enlarged capacity for receiving pleasure from works of imagination. William Hazlitt receiving imagination art The safest kind of praise is to foretell that another will become great in some particular way. It has the greatest show of magnanimity and the least of it in reality. William Hazlitt greatness reality way Languages happily restrict the mind to what is of its own native growth and fitted for it, as rivers and mountains bond countries; or the empire of learning, as well as states, would become unwieldy and overgrown. William Hazlitt growth rivers country To great evils we submit, we resent little provocations. William Hazlitt wickedness evil littles We are all of us, more or less, the slaves of opinion. William Hazlitt cooperation slave opinion By retaliating our sufferings on the heads of those we love, we get rid of a present uneasiness and incur lasting remorse. With the accomplishment of our revenge our fondness returns; so that we feel the injury we have done them, even more than they do. William Hazlitt accomplishment revenge suffering If goodness were only a theory, it were a pity it should be lost to the world. There are a number of things, the idea of which is a clear gain to the mind. Let people, for instance, rail at friendship, genius, freedom, as long as they will -the very names of these despised qualities are better than anything else that could be substituted for them, and embalm even the most envenomed satire against them. William Hazlitt names numbers ideas The contemplation of truth and beauty is the proper object for which we were created, which calls forth the most intense desires of the soul, and of which it never tires. William Hazlitt tire soul desire Learning is, in too many cases, but a foil to common sense; a substitute for true knowledge. Books are less often made use of as spectacles to look at nature with, than as blinds to keep out its strong light and shifting scenery from weak eyes and indolent dispositions. The learned are mere literary drudges. William Hazlitt nature strong book The surest hindrance of success is to have too high a standard of refinement in our own minds, or too high an opinion of the judgment of the public. He who is determined not to be satisfied with anything short of perfection will never do anything to please himself or others. William Hazlitt determined perfection mind Human life may be regarded as a succession of frontispieces. The way to be satisfied is never to look back. William Hazlitt may life looks Every one in a crowd has the power to throw dirt; none out of ten have the inclination. William Hazlitt crowds dirt power
