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Mankind are a herd of knaves and fools. It is necessary to join the crowd, or get out of their way, in order not to be trampled to death by them.

William Hazlitt

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William Hazlitt
Journalist
Literary Critic
Literary Historian
Painter
Philosopher
Writer
Wm. Haslett
William Carew Hazlitt
Way
Crowd
Stupidity
Crowds
Trampled
Necessary
Knaves
Fool
Herd
Mankind
Herds
Death
Fools
Order
Join

More quotes by William Hazlitt

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The only true retirement is that of the heart the only true leisure is the repose of the passions. To such persons it makes little difference whether they are young or old and they die as they have lived, with graceful resignation.
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There is no flattery so adroit or effectual as that of implicit assent.
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The pleasure of hating, like a poisonous mineral, eats into the heart of religion, and turns it to ranking spleen and bigotry it makes patriotism an excuse for carrying fire, pestilence, and famine into other lands: it leaves to virtue nothing but the spirit of censoriousness.
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He who does nothing renders himself incapable of doing any thing but while we are executing any work, we are preparing and qualifying ourselves to undertake another.
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Malice often takes the garb of truth.
William Hazlitt
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Man is a make-believe animal: he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part.
William Hazlitt
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A nickname is the heaviest stone that the devil can throw at a man. It is a bugbear to the imagination, and, though we do not believe in it, it still haunts our apprehensions.
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Do not quarrel with the world too soon for, bad as it may be, it is the best we have to live in, here. If railing would have made it better, it would have been reformed long ago.
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No one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves.
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A man in love prefers his passion to every other consideration, and is fonder of his mistress than he is of virtue. Should she prove vicious, she makes vice lovely in his eyes.
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One of the pleasantest things in the world is going on a journey but I like to go by myself.
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Spleen can subsist on any kind of food.
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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.
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No man can thoroughly master more than one art or science.
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Avarice is the miser's dream, as fame is the poet's.
William Hazlitt
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Walk groundly, talk profoundly, drink roundly, sleep soundly.
William Hazlitt
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Confidence gives a fool the advantage over a wise man.
William Hazlitt
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The true barbarian is he who thinks everything barbarous but his own tastes and prejudices.
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Grace is the absence of everything that indicates pain or difficulty, hesitation or incongruity.
William Hazlitt
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Or have I passed my time in pouring words like water into empty sieves, rolling a stone up a hill and then down again, trying to prove an argument in the teeth of facts, and looking for causes in the dark, and not finding them?
William Hazlitt