Top 500 William Hazlitt Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves.”

— William Hazlitt

Featured in: Peace Quotes, Quotes About Humanity, Quotes About War

2. “We do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts.”

— William Hazlitt

Featured in: Nature Quotes

3. “Prejudice is the child of ignorance.”

— William Hazlitt

4. “The more we do, the more we can do.”

— William Hazlitt

5. “As is our confidence, so is our capacity.”

— William Hazlitt

6. “Silence is one great art of conversation.”

— William Hazlitt

7. “The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much.”

— William Hazlitt

8. “I’m not smart, but I like to observe. Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.”

— William Hazlitt

9. “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

10. “Learning is its own exceeding great reward.”

— William Hazlitt

11. “A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles.”

— William Hazlitt

12. “One of the pleasantest things in the world is going on a journey; but I like to go by myself.”

— William Hazlitt

13. “Everything is in motion. Everything flows. Everything is vibrating.”

— William Hazlitt

14. “The soul of dispatch is decision.”

— William Hazlitt

15. “Landscape painting is the obvious resource of misanthropy.”

— William Hazlitt

16. “When we forget old friends, it is a sign we have forgotten ourselves.”

— William Hazlitt

17. “If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory.”

— William Hazlitt

18. “Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.”

— William Hazlitt

19. “The insolence of the vulgar is in proportion to their ignorance. They treat everything with contempt which they do not understand.”

— William Hazlitt

20. “The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.”

— William Hazlitt

21. “Zeal will do more than knowledge.”

— William Hazlitt

22. “The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.”

— William Hazlitt

23. “I am then never less alone than when alone.”

— William Hazlitt

24. “Some people break promises for the pleasure of breaking them.”

— William Hazlitt

25. “Pride erects a little kingdom of its own, and acts as sovereign in it.”

— William Hazlitt

26. “Silence is one great art of conversation. He is not a fool who knows when to hold his tongue; and a person may gain credit for sense, eloquence, wit, who merely says nothing to lessen the opinion which others have of these qualities in themselves.”

— William Hazlitt

27. “It is better to drink of deep grief than to taste shallow pleasures.”

— William Hazlitt

28. “Man is a poetical animal, and delights in fiction.”

— William Hazlitt

29. “The soul of a journey is liberty, perfect liberty, to think, feel, do just as one pleases.”

— William Hazlitt

30. “Life is the art of being well deceived.”

— William Hazlitt

31. “The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.”

— William Hazlitt

32. “The most silent people are generally those who think most highly of themselves.”

— William Hazlitt

33. “An honest man is respected by all parties.”

— William Hazlitt

34. “I can enjoy society in a room; but out of doors, nature is company enough for me.”

— William Hazlitt

35. “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

36. “Grace in women has more effect than beauty.”

— William Hazlitt

37. “The greatest pleasure in life is that of reading while we are young. I have had as much of this pleasure perhaps as any one.”

— William Hazlitt

Featured in: Reading Quotes

38. “There are no rules for friendship. It must be left to itself. We cannot force it any more than love.”

— William Hazlitt

39. “Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy. Action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame.”

— William Hazlitt

40. “The way to procure insults is to submit to them. A man meets with no more respect than he exacts.”

— William Hazlitt

41. “You know more of a road by having traveled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world.”

— William Hazlitt

42. “Common sense, to most people, is nothing more than their own opinions.”

— William Hazlitt

43. “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.”

— William Hazlitt

44. “That which is not, shall never be; that which is, shall never cease to be. To the wise, these truths are self-evident.”

— William Hazlitt

45. “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.”

— William Hazlitt

46. “A man knows his companion in a long journey and a little inn.”

— William Hazlitt

47. “As we advance in life, we acquire a keener sense of the value of time. Nothing else, indeed, seems of any consequence; and we become misers in this respect.”

— William Hazlitt

48. “Violent antipathies are always suspicious, and betray a secret affinity.”

— William Hazlitt

Featured in: Betrayal Quotes

49. “Walk groundly, talk profoundly, drink roundly, sleep soundly.”

— William Hazlitt

50. “When I am in the country, I wish to vegetate like the country.”

— William Hazlitt