Quote: He talked on for ever; and you wished him to talk on for ever. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: A strong passion for any object will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: The most sensible people to be met with in society are men of business and of the world, who argue from what they see and know, instead of spinning cobweb distinctions of what things ought to be. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: Life is the art of being well deceived. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects, and discovering the weaknesses of others. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: Death cancels everything but truth; and strips a man of everything but genius and virtue. It is a sort of natural canonization. It makes the meanest of us sacred --it installs the poet in his immortality, and lifts him to the skies. Death is the greatest assayer of the sterling ore of talent. At his touch the dropsy particles fall off, the irritable, the personal, the gross, and mingle with the dust --the finer and more ethereal part mounts with winged spirit to watch over our latest memory, and protect our bones from insult. We consign the least worthy qualities to oblivion, and cherish the nobler and imperishable nature with double pride and fondness. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: Our repugnance to death increases in proportion to our consciousness of having lived in vain. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: We are all of us, more or less, the slaves of opinion. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: Gallantry to women -- the sure road to their favor -- is nothing but the appearance of extreme devotion to all their wants and wishes, a delight in their satisfaction, and a confidence in yourself as being able to contribute toward it. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: As is our confidence, so is our capacity. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: Reflection makes men cowards. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: If I have not read a book before, it is, for all intents and purposes, new to me whether it was printed yesterday or three hundred years ago. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: 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]
Quote: Look up, laugh loud, talk big, keep the color in your cheek and the fire in your eye, adorn your person, maintain your health, your beauty and your animal spirits. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: Those who make their dress a principal part of themselves will, in general, become of no more value than their dress. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: A grave blockhead should always go about with a lively one -- they show one another off to the best advantage. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: Without the aid of prejudice and custom, I should not be able to find my way across the room. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: A full-dressed ecclesiastic is a sort of go-cart of divinity; an ethical automaton. A clerical prig is, in general, a very dangerous as well as contemptible character. The utmost that those who thus habitually confound their opinions and sentiments with the outside coverings of their bodies can aspire to, is a negative and neutral character, like wax-work figures, where the dress is done as much to the life as the man, and where both are respectable pieces of pasteboard, or harmless compositions of fleecy hosiery. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: To be remembered after we are dead, is but poor recompense for being treated with contempt while we are living. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: The definition of genius is that it acts unconsciously; and those who have produced immortal works, have done so without knowing how or why. The greatest power operates unseen. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: Though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes off the edge of admiration. [William Hazlitt]
Quote: 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]
Quote: We can scarcely hate anyone that we know. [William Hazlitt]