Frases de William Hazlitt

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“Todos nós somos, mais ou menos, escravos da opinião pública.”

“Uma paixão forte será bem-sucedida, pois o desejo do objetivo indicará os meios de alcançá-la.”

“Nunca conseguimos fazer nada correctamente enquanto não pararmos de pensar em como o fazer.”

“A arte de agradar consiste em ter agrado com isso.”

“Antipatias violentas são sempre suspeitas e revelam uma afinidade secreta.”

“Assim como se diz que a hipocrisia é o maior elogio da virtude, a arte de mentir é o mais forte reconhecimento da força da verdade.”

“A arte de viver é saber como se divertir pouco e resistir muito.”

“Ciência é o desejo de conhecer as causas”

“Uma paixão forte por qualquer objecto assegurará o sucesso, porque o desejo pelo objectivo mostrará os meios.”

“Pensar mal da humanidade sem lhe desejar mal talvez seja a forma mais elevada de sabedoria e de virtude.”

“Assim como o estômago rejeita certos alimentos, o espírito se revolta contra certas opiniões.”

“Às vezes ofendemos mais com o nosso silêncio do que com a nossa impertinência.”

“A simplicidade de caráter é o resultado natural da profundez de pensamento.”

“Não há animal mais degradante, estúpido, covarde, lamentável, egoísta, rancoroso, invejoso, ingrato, que o público. É o maior dos covardes, porque de si mesmo tem medo.”

“O espírito é o sal da conversa, não o seu alimento.”

“Como a nossa confiança, assim é a nossa capacidade.”

“Nenhum jovem acredita que um dia morrerá.”

“A multidão, que exige ser conduzida, continua a odiar os guias.”

“A vaidade não se refere à opinião que alguém tem de si mesmo, mas daquela que ele deseja que os outros tenham dele.”

“Quase toda a seita do cristianismo representa uma perversão da sua essência, com a finalidade de adaptá-lo aos preconceitos do mundo.”

“Aqueles para quem a roupa é a parte mais importante da pessoa acabam, geralmente, por valer tanto quanto a sua roupa.”

“As pessoas mais silenciosas geralmente são aquelas que pensam o melhor de si mesmas.”

“A moda é o refinamento que corre à frente da vulgaridade e teme ser ultrapassado.”

“A melhor parte da nossa vida é passada a aguardar o que vem.”

“É impossível odiar alguém que conhecemos.”

“Só ficamos satisfeitos em ter razão se conseguimos provar que os outros estão totalmente errados.”

“É melhor desejar que gozar, amar que ser amado.”

“Uma alcunha é a pedra mais pesada que o diabo pode atirar em alguém.”

“A ira pode subsistir com qualquer tipo de alimento.”

“A calúnia não exige provas.”

“Onde quer que nos sintamos em casa, estaremos à vontade.”

“É melhor não saber ler e escrever do que não saber fazer nenhuma outra coisa.”

“A liberdade é a única riqueza, porque do resto somos ao mesmo tempo amos e escravos.”

“Nós nunca fazemos nada bem até deixarmos de pensar sobre a maneira de o fazer.”

“Aqueles que merecem um monumento não precisam dele.”

“O homem é um animal que finge - e nunca é tão autêntico como quando interpreta um papel.”

“The world judge of men by their ability in their profession, and we judge of ourselves by the same test; for it is on that on which our success in life depends.”

“I think it is a rule that men in business should not be taught other things. Any one will be almost sure to make money who has no other idea in his head. A college education, or intense study of abstract truth, will not enable a man to drive a bargain … The best politicians are not those who are deeply grounded in mathematical or in ethical science. Rules stand in the way of expediency. Many a man has been hindered from pushing his fortune in the world by an early cultivation of his moral sense.”

“But there is an unseemly exposure of the mind, as well as of the body.”

“It [will-making] is the latest opportunity we have of exercising the natural perversity of the disposition … This last act of our lives seldom belies the former tenor of them for stupidity, caprice, and unmeaning spite. All that we seem to think of is to manage matters so (in settling accounts with those who are so unmannerly as to survive us) as to do as little good, and to plague and disappoint as many people, as possible.”

“If a person has no delicacy, he has you in his power, for you necessarily feel some towards him; and since he will take no denial, you must comply with his peremptory demands, or send for a constable, which out of respect for his character you will not do.”

“Gallantry to women (the sure road to their favor) is nothing but the appearance of extreme devotion to all their wants and wishes, a delight in their satisfaction, and a confidence in yourself as being able to contribute toward it.”

“Men of genius do not excel in any profession because they labour in it, but they labour in it because they excel.”

“The origin of all science is in the desire to know causes; and the origin of all false science and imposture is in the desire to accept false causes rather than none; or, which is the same thing, in the unwillingness to acknowledge our own ignorance.”

“Death is the greatest evil, because it cuts off hope.”

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

“No wise man can have a contempt for the prejudices of others; and he should even stand in a certain awe of his own, as if they were aged parents and monitors. They may in the end prove wiser than he.”

“It is better to be able neither to read nor write than to be able to do nothing else.”

“Even in the common affairs of life, in love, friendship, and marriage, how little security have we when we trust our happiness in the hands of others!”

“No young man believes he shall ever die.”

“The perfect joys of heaven do not satisfy the cravings of nature.”

“We all wear some disguise — make some professions — use some artifice to set ourselves off as being better than we are; and yet it is not denied that we have some good intentions and praiseworthy qualities at bottom, though we may endeavour to keep some others that we think less to our credit as much as possible in the background…”

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

“One truth discovered is immortal, and entitles its author to be so; for, like a new substance in nature, it cannot be destroyed.”

“Learning is its own exceeding great reward; and at the period of which we speak, it bore other fruits, not unworthy of it.”

“We can scarcely hate any one that we know.”

“All that is worth remembering in life, is the poetry of it.”

“Those only deserve a monument who do not need one; that is, who have raised themselves a monument in the minds and memories of men.”

“Some one is generally sure to be the sufferer by a joke.”

“Very trifling circumstances do give great and daily annoyance, and as often prove too much for our philosophy and forbearance, as matters of the highest moment. … The truth is, we pamper little griefs into great ones, and bear great ones as well as we can … To great evils we submit; we resent little provocations.”

“He who comes up to his own idea of greatness, must always have had a very low standard of it in his mind.”

“Man is a make-believe animal — he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part.”

“Satirists gain the applause of others through fear, not through love.”

“For my own part, as I once said, I like a friend the better for having faults that one can talk about.”

“When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.”