William Hazlitt quotes

“The busier we are the more leisure we have.”

— William Hazlitt

“The English (it must be owned) are rather a foul-mouthed nation.”

— William Hazlitt

“The humblest painter is a true scholar; and the best of scholars the scholar of nature.”

— William Hazlitt

“The incentive to ambition is the love of power.”

— William Hazlitt

“The least pain in our little finger gives us more concern and uneasiness than the destruction of millions of our fellow-beings.”

— William Hazlitt

“The more we do, the more we can do.”

— William Hazlitt

“The most learned are often the most narrow minded.”

— William Hazlitt

“The perfect joys of heaven do not satisfy the cravings of nature.”

— William Hazlitt

“The person whose doors I enter with most pleasure, and quit with most regret, never did me the smallest favor.”

— William Hazlitt

“The player envies only the player, the poet envies only the poet.”

— William Hazlitt

“The public have neither shame or gratitude.”

— William Hazlitt

“The way to get on in the world is to be neither more nor less wise, neither better nor worse than your neighbours.”

— William Hazlitt

“There is a heroism in crime as well as in virtue. Vice and infamy have their altars and their religion.”

— William Hazlitt

“There is nothing good to be had in the country, or if there is, they will not let you have it.”

— William Hazlitt

“Those who can command themselves command others.”

— William Hazlitt

“Though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes off the edge of admiration.”

— William Hazlitt

“To a superior race of being the pretensions of mankind to extraordinary sanctity and virtue must seem... ridiculous.”

— William Hazlitt

“To be remembered after we are dead, is but poor recompense for being treated with contempt while we are living.”

— William Hazlitt

“To get others to come into our ways of thinking, we must go over to theirs; and it is necessary to follow, in order to lead.”

— William Hazlitt

“We are not hypocrites in our sleep.”

— William Hazlitt

“We are very much what others think of us. The reception our observations meet with gives us courage to proceed, or damps our efforts.”

— William Hazlitt

“We can bear to be deprived of everything but our self-conceit.”

— William Hazlitt

“We can scarcely hate anyone that we know.”

— William Hazlitt

“We find many things to which the prohibition of them constitutes the only temptation.”

— William Hazlitt

“We must be doing something to be happy.”

— William Hazlitt

“We never do anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing it.”

— William Hazlitt

“Without the aid of prejudice and custom, I should not be able to find my way across the room.”

— William Hazlitt

“Zeal will do more than knowledge.”

— William Hazlitt

“If we wish to know the force of human genius, we should read Shakespeare. If we wish to see the insignificance of human learning, we may study his commentators.”

— William Hazlitt

“Few things tend more to alienate friendship than a want of punctuality in our engagements. I have known the breach of a promise to dine or sup to break up more than one intimacy.”

— William Hazlitt