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A lively blockhead in company is a public benefit. Silence or dulness by the side of folly looks like wisdom.

William Hazlitt

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William Hazlitt
Journalist
Literary Critic
Literary Historian
Painter
Philosopher
Writer
Wm. Haslett
William Carew Hazlitt
Public
Blockheads
Wisdom
Lively
Company
Folly
Looks
Benefit
Like
Benefits
Silence
Side
Dulness
Sides
Blockhead

More quotes by William Hazlitt

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Genius only leaves behind it the monuments of its strength.
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A life of action and danger moderates the dread of death. It not only gives us fortitude to bear pain, but teaches us at every step the precarious tenure on which we hold our present being.
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...greatness sympathises with greatness, and littleness shrinks into itself.
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Modesty is the lowest of the virtues, and is a real confession of the deficiency it indicates. He who undervalues himself is justly undervalued by others.
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Actors are the only honest hypocrites.
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Hope is the best possession. None are completely wretched but those who are without hope. Few are reduced so low as that.
William Hazlitt
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Anyone who has passed though the regular gradations of a classical education, and is not made a fool by it, may consider himself as having had a very narrow escape.
William Hazlitt
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Familiarity confounds all traits of distinction interest and prejudice take away the power of judging.
William Hazlitt
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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.
William Hazlitt
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We find many things to which the prohibition of them constitutes the only temptation.
William Hazlitt
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If I have not read a book before, it is, for all intents and purposes, new to me whether it was printed yesterday or three hundred years ago.
William Hazlitt
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In public speaking, we must appeal either to the prejudices of others, or to the love of truth and justice. If we think merely of displaying our own ability, we shall ruin every cause we undertake.
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Keep your misfortunes to yourself.
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He who is as faithful to his principles as he is to himself is the true partisan.
William Hazlitt
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Violence ever defeats its own ends. Where you cannot drive you can always persuade. A gentle word, a kind look, a god-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles. There is a secret pride in every human heart than revolts at tyranny. You may order and drive an individual, but you cannot make him respect you.
William Hazlitt
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Truth from the mouth of an honest man and severity from a good-natured man have a double effect.
William Hazlitt
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We never do anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing it.
William Hazlitt
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No one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves.
William Hazlitt
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I am proud up to the point of equality everything above or below that appears to me arrant impertinence or abject meanness.
William Hazlitt
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Greatness is great power, producing great effects. It is not enough that a man has great power in himself, he must shew it to all the world in a way that cannot be hid or gainsaid.
William Hazlitt