Quotations From WILLIAM HAZLITT

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• 71.

  He indeed cloys with sweetness; he obscures with splendour; he fatigues with gaiety. We are stifled on beds of roses.

  William Hazlitt (1778-1830), British essayist. The Spirit of the Age, "T. Moore—Leigh Hunt," (1825). Referring to the poet Thomas Moore.
• 72.

  Poetry is the universal language which the heart holds with nature and itself. He who has a contempt for poetry, cannot have much respect for himself, or for anything else.

  William Hazlitt (1778-1830), British essayist. Lectures on the English Poets, "On Poetry in General," (1818).
  
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• 73.

  The person whose doors I enter with most pleasure, and quit with most regret, never did me the smallest favour.

  William Hazlitt (1778-1830), British essayist. repr. In The Plain Speaker (1826). "On the Spirit of Obligations," (1824).
• 74.

  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 (1778-1830), British essayist. Lectures on the English Comic Writers, Lecture 1 (1819). This passage was copied and inserted in the notebooks of Adlai Stevenson.
  
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• 75.

  If we wish to know the force of human genius, we should read Shakespeare. If we wish to see the insignificance of human learning, we may study his commentators.

  William Hazlitt (1778-1830), British essayist. repr. In Table Talk (1821). "On the Ignorance of the Learned," Edinburgh Magazine (July 1818).
• 76.

  Dandyism is ... a variety of genius.

  William Hazlitt (1778-1830), British essayist. "Lord Byron," The Spirit of The Age (1825).
• 77.

  There is nothing good to be had in the country, or if there is, they will not let you have it.

  William Hazlitt (1778-1830), British essayist. "Observations on Mr. Wordsworth's Excursion," Political Essays (1819).
• 78.

  There is not a more mean, stupid, dastardly, pitiless, selfish, spiteful, envious, ungrateful animal than the Public. It is the greatest of cowards, for it is afraid of itself.

  William Hazlitt (1778-1830), British essayist. "On Living to One's Self," Table Talk (1821-1822).
  
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• 79.

  The love of fame is almost another name for the love of excellence; or it is the ambition to attain the highest excellence, sanctioned by the highest authority, that of time.

  William Hazlitt (1778-1830), British essayist. "On Different Sorts of Fame," The Round Table (1817).
  
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• 80.

  Dr. Johnson was a lazy learned man who liked to think and talk better than to read or write; who, however, wrote much and well, but too often by rote.

  William Hazlitt (1778-1830), British essayist. "On Swift, Young, Gray, Collins &c.," Lectures on the English Poets (1818).