The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure much.
- William Hazlitt in "Common Places," No. 1, The Literary Examiner (1823)
Corporate bodies are more corrupt and profligate than individuals, because they have more power to do mischief, and are less amenable to disgrace or punishment. They feel neither shame, remorse, gratitude, nor goodwill.
- William Hazlitt in "On Corporate Bodies" in "Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners" (1821-1822)
The slaves of power mind the cause they have to serve, because their own interest is concerned; but the friends of liberty always sacrifice their cause, which is only the cause of humanity, to their own spleen, vanity, and self-opinion.
- William Hazlitt in Review of Lord Byron's Childe Harold in Yellow Dwarf (1818),
Those who aim at faultless regularity will only produce mediocrity, and no one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves.
- William Hazlitt in "Thoughts on Taste", Edinburgh Magazine (July 1819)
Man is a make-believe animal he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part.
- William Hazlitt in "Notes of a Journey through France and Italy" (1824)
The least pain in our little finger gives us more concern and uneasiness, than the destruction of millions of our fellow-beings.
- William Hazlitt in "American Literature Dr. Channing," Edinburgh Review, (October 1829)
The origin of all science is in the desire to know causes; and the origin of all false science and imposture is in the desire to accept false causes rather than none; or, which is the same thing, in the unwillingness to acknowledge our own ignorance."
- William Hazlitt in "Burke and the Edinburgh phrenologists". The Atlas (15 Feb 1829)
When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.
- William Hazlitt in "On The Spirit of Controversy," The Atlas (1830)
Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.
- William Hazlitt in "The Sick Chamber" in The New Monthly Magazine (1830)
There is, however, no prejudice so strong as that which arises from a fancied exemption from all prejudice.
- William Hazlitt in "On the Tendency of Sects" in "The Round Table" (1815-1817)
The Tory is one who is governed by sense and habit alone. He considers not what is possible, but what is real; he gives might the preference over right. He cries long life to the conqueror, and is ever strong upon the stronger side the side of corruption and prerogative.
- William Hazlitt in "Political Essays" (1819)
The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.
- William Hazlitt in Political Essays (1819)
Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be.
- William Hazlitt in On Wit and Humour" in "Lectures on the English Comic Writers" (1819)
Danger is a good teacher, and makes apt scholars. So are disgrace, defeat, exposure to immediate scorn and laughter. There is no opportunity in such cases for self-delusion, no idling time away, no being off your guard (or you must take the consequences) neither is there any room for humour or caprice or prejudice."
- William Hazlitt in "The Indian Jugglers" Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners (1821-1822)
What I mean by living to one's-self is living in the world, as in it, not of it: it is as if no one know there was such a person, and you wished no one to know it: it is to be a silent spectator of the mighty scene of things, not an object of attention or curiosity in it; to take a thoughtful, anxious interest in what is passing in the world, but not to feel the slightest inclination to make or meddle with it.
- William Hazlitt in "On Living to One's-Self" in "Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners" (1821-1822)
Even in the common affairs of life, in love, friendship, and marriage, how little security have we when we trust our happiness in the hands of others!
- William Hazlitt in "On Living to One's-Self" in "Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners" (1821-1822)
It has been the resolution of mankind in all ages of the world. No people, no age, ever threw away the fruits of past wisdom, or the enjoyment of present blessings, for visionary schemes of ideal perfection. It is the knowledge of the past, the actual infliction of the present, that has produced all changes, all innovations, and all improvements not (as is pretended) the chimerical anticipation of possible advantages, but the intolerable pressure of long-established, notorious, aggravated, and growing abuses.
- William Hazlitt in "On Paradox and Common-Place" on "Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners" (1821-1822)
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 in "Characteristics, in the manner of Rochefoucauld's Maxims" (1823)
An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offence; a vain man, in order that it may.
- William Hazlitt in Characteristics, in the manner of Rochefoucauld's Maxims" (1823)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hazlitt
"William Hazlitt (10 April 1778 18 September 1830) was an English writer, remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, and as a grammarian and philosopher. He is now considered one of the great critics and essayists of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. During his lifetime he befriended many people who are now part of the 19th-century literary canon, including Charles and Mary Lamb, Stendhal, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Wordsworth."
William Hazlitt in "A Little Book Humanity": http://thelittlebook.blogs.fi/2010/01/14/william-hazlitt-on-love-of-liberty-7755865/
