Quote

Vice is man's nature: virtue is a habit -- or a mask. . . . The foregoing maxim shows the difference between truth and sarcasm.

William Hazlitt

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William Hazlitt
Journalist
Literary Critic
Literary Historian
Painter
Philosopher
Writer
Wm. Haslett
William Carew Hazlitt
Truth
Vice
Men
Vices
Habit
Difference
Foregoing
Differences
Maxim
Virtue
Maxims
Shows
Sarcasm
Nature
Mask

More quotes by William Hazlitt

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The English (it must be owned) are rather a foul-mouthed nation.
William Hazlitt
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Those who make their dress a principal part of themselves, will, in general, become of no more value than their dress.
William Hazlitt
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Death is the greatest evil, because it cuts off hope.
William Hazlitt
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Sincerity has to do with the connexion between our words and thoughts, and not between our beliefs and actions.
William Hazlitt
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The most phlegmatic dispositions often contain the most inflammable spirits, as fire is struck from the hardest flints.
William Hazlitt
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A great chess-player is not a great man, for he leaves the world as he found it. No act terminating in itself constitutes greatness. This will apply to all displays of power or trials of skill, which are confined to the momentary, individual effort, and construct no permanent image or trophy of themselves without them
William Hazlitt
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Pride erects a little kingdom of its own, and acts as sovereign in it.
William Hazlitt
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We are fonder of visiting our friends in health than in sickness. We judge less favorably of their characters when any misfortune happens to them and a lucky hit, either in business or reputation, improves even their personal appearance in our eyes.
William Hazlitt
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We do not attend to the advice of the sage and experienced because we think they are old, forgetting that they once were young and placed in the same situations as ourselves.
William Hazlitt
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A certain excess of animal spirits with thoughtless good-humor will often make more enemies than the most deliberate spite and ill-nature, which is on its guard, and strikes with caution and safety.
William Hazlitt
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Art is the microscope of the mind, which sharpens the wit as the other does the sight and converts every object into a little universe in itself. Art may be said to draw aside the veil from nature. To those who are perfectly unskilled in the practice, unimbued with the principles of art, most objects present only a confused mass.
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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There is nothing more to be esteemed than a manly firmness and decision of character.
William Hazlitt
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There are few things in which we deceive ourselves more than in the esteem we profess to entertain for our firends. It is little better than a piece of quackery. The truth is, we think of them as we please, that is, as they please or displease us.
William Hazlitt
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I am always afraid of a fool. One cannot be sure that he is not a knave as well.
William Hazlitt
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Faith is necessary to victory.
William Hazlitt
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Learning is, in too many cases, but a foil to common sense a substitute for true knowledge.
William Hazlitt
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Perhaps the best cure for the fear of death is to reflect that life has a beginning as well as an end.
William Hazlitt
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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.
William Hazlitt
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The fear of approaching death, which in youth we imagine must cause inquietude to the aged, is very seldom the source of much uneasiness.
William Hazlitt