809 Quotes by William Hazlitt

A mighty stream of tendency.

There is no more mean, stupid, dastardly, pitiful, selfish, spiteful, envious, ungrateful animal than the Public. It is the greatest of cowards, for it is afraid of itself.

We prefer ourselves to others, only because we a have more intimate consciousness and confirmed opinion of our own claims and merits than of any other person's.

Cant is the voluntary overcharging or prolongation of a real sentiment; hypocrisy is the setting up a pretension to a feeling you never had and have no wish for.

Actors are the only honest hypocrites.

The incognito of an inn is one of its striking privileges.

The idea of what the public will think prevents the public from ever thinking at all, and acts as a spell on the exercise of private judgment.

They are the only honest hypocrites, their life is a voluntary dream, a studied madness.

What a fine lesson is conveyed to the mind -- to take no note of time but by its benefits, to watch only for the smiles and neglect the frowns of fate, to compose our lives of bright and gentle moments, turning always to the sunny side of things, and letting the rest slip for our imaginations, unheeded or forgotten! How different from the common art of self-tormenting!