William Hazlitt Quotes

It's hubris to think that the way we see things is everything there is.

The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance.

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.

To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.

A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.

People never know what they want, though everyone says they do. If they did, nobody would ever be surprised.

I feel increasingly like age is very irrelevant. Quite often, cynicism is confused with wisdom, and my scorn is confused with a knowing, which I don't have.

People of little understanding are most apt to be angry when their sense is called into question.

If bigots behave like bigots, it's not a huge surprise.

When they talk to me, people say, 'I didn't expect you to be how you are.'

Preconceived notions are the locks on the door to wisdom.

Indeed he knows not how to know who knows not also how to un-know.

You know, sometimes an interviewer will look at me and say - you're bright! They're actually surprised I might be bright.

The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance.

Sometimes an interviewer will look at me and say, 'You're bright!' They're actually surprised I might be bright.

All the world old is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.

Complete objectivity is not an option. We are all subjective about the way we respond to 'what is,' whether it's the people we encounter, the circumstances in our lives, or ourselves. What we can do is reduce our subjectivity - what I call 'I see, therefore it is.'

Sometimes circumstance blinds us at first from seeing people for who they really are.

When I open my mouth and talk, sometimes people say they are amazed of my intellect. I don't know if that's because I truly speak in a way that people can understand or feel a certain way, or because they don't expect it. I don't know. That's something I am curious about.

I think people can be quick to judge. The people that know me, they know what I am like.

No man can see his own prejudices.

Those who are free from common prejudices acquire others.

A man does not wonder at what he sees frequently, even though he be ignorant of the reason. If anything happens which he has not seen before, he calls it a prodigy.

When we know something and rest in that knowing we limit our vision. We will only see what our knowing will allow us to see. In this way experience can be our enemy.