William Hazlitt Quotes

Very trifling circumstances do give great and daily annoyance, and as often prove too much for our philosophy and forbearance, as matters of the highest moment. A lump of soot spoiling a man’s dinner, a plate of toast falling in the ashes, the being disappointed of a ribbon to a cap or a ticket for […]

We are not hypocrites in our sleep.

Walk groundly, talk profoundly, drink roundly, sleep soundly.

All that is worth remembering of life is the poetry of it.

The art of pleasing consists of being pleased.

Amsterdam did not answer our expectations; it is a kind of paltry, rubbishy Venice. (1826)

The world is growing old. We are so far advanced in the arts and sciences, that we live in retrospect, and dote on past achievements. The accumulation of knowledge has been so great, that we are lost in wonder at the height it has reached, instead of attempting to climb or add to it… What […]

Nothing is more unjust or capricious than public opinion.

The public is so in awe of its own opinion that it never dares to form any, but catches up the first idle rumour, lest it should be behindhand in its judgment, and echoes it till it is deafened with the sound of its own voice.

We are all more or less the slaves of opinion.