Quotes By William Hazlitt

I'm not smart, but I like to observe. Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.

There are no rules for friendship. It must be left to itself. We cannot force it any more than love.

To give a reason for anything is to breed a doubt of it.

A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles.

We grow tired of everything but turning others into ridicule, and congratulating ourselves on their defects.

Life is the art of being well deceived; and in order that the deception may succeed it must be habitual and uninterrupted.

The most learned are often the most narrow minded.

A wise traveler never despises his own country.

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

The incentive to ambition is the love of power.

The most insignificant people are the most apt to sneer at others. They are safe from reprisals. And have no hope of rising in their own self esteem but by lowering their neighbors.

The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.

Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.

A hypocrite despises those whom he deceives, but has no respect for himself. He would make a dupe of himself too, if he could.

No man is truly great who is great only in his lifetime. The test of greatness is the page of history.

The public have neither shame or gratitude.

Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust; hatred alone is immortal.

Our friends are generally ready to do everything for us, except the very thing we wish them to do.

Prejudice is the child of ignorance.

The seat of knowledge is in the head; of wisdom, in the heart. We are sure to judge wrong, if we do not feel right.

Man is a make-believe animal: he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part.

There are few things in which we deceive ourselves more than in the esteem we profess to entertain for our firends. It is little better than a piece of quackery. The truth is, we think of them as we please, that is, as they please or displease us.

Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food.

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.

Zeal will do more than knowledge.

If you give an audience a chance they will do half your acting for you.

Defoe says that there were a hundred thousand country fellows in his time ready to fight to the death against popery, without knowing whether popery was a man or a horse.

The soul of a journey is liberty, perfect liberty, to think, feel, do just as one pleases.

We do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts.

I like a friend the better for having faults that one can talk about.