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A scholar is like a book written in a dead language. It is not every one that can read in it.

William Hazlitt

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William Hazlitt
Journalist
Literary Critic
Literary Historian
Painter
Philosopher
Writer
Wm. Haslett
William Carew Hazlitt
Written
Read
Language
Book
Every
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Scholar
Dead

More quotes by William Hazlitt

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The secret of the difficulties of those people who make a great deal of money, and yet are always in want of it, is this-they throw it away as soon as they get it on the first whim or extravagance that strikes them, and have nothing left to meet ordinary expenses or discharge old debts.
William Hazlitt
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The vices are never so well employed as in combating one another.
William Hazlitt
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We prefer a person with vivacity and high spirits, though bordering upon insolence, to the timid and pusillanimous we are fonder of wit joined to malice than of dullness without it.
William Hazlitt
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When one can do better than everyone else in the same walk, one does not make any very painful exertions to outdo oneself. The progress of improvement ceases nearly at the point where competition ends.
William Hazlitt
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The look of a gentleman is little else than the reflection of the looks of the world.
William Hazlitt
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The art of pleasing consists in being pleased.
William Hazlitt
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A grave blockhead should always go about with a lively one - they show one another off to the best advantage.
William Hazlitt
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Languages happily restrict the mind to what is of its own native growth and fitted for it, as rivers and mountains bond countries or the empire of learning, as well as states, would become unwieldy and overgrown.
William Hazlitt
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We would willingly, and without remorse, sacrifice not only the present moment, but all the interval (no matter how long) that separates us from any favorite object.
William Hazlitt
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We never do anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing it. This is the reason why it is so difficult for any but natives to speak a language correctly or idiomatically.
William Hazlitt
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Pure good soon grows insipid, wants variety and spirit. Pain is a bittersweet, which never surfeits. Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust. Hatred alone is immortal.
William Hazlitt
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Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves.
William Hazlitt
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There is nothing more likely to drive a man mad, than the being unable to get rid of the idea of the distinction between right and wrong, and an obstinate, constitutional preference of the true to the agreeable.
William Hazlitt
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He who draws upon his own resources easily comes to an end of his wealth.
William Hazlitt
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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
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The most silent people are generally those who think most highly of themselves.
William Hazlitt
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To give a reason for anything is to breed a doubt of it.
William Hazlitt
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We are thankful for good-will rather than for services, for the motive than the quantum of favor received.
William Hazlitt
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We uniformly applaud what is right and condemn what is wrong, when it costs us nothing but the sentiment.
William Hazlitt
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There is a feeling of Eternity in youth which makes us amends for everything. To be young is to be as one of the Immortals.
William Hazlitt