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The character of a gentleman [I take it] may be explained nearly thus: A blackguard is a fellow who does not care whom he offends; a clown is a blockhead who does not know when he offends; A gentleman is one who understands and shows every mark of deference to the claims of self-love in others, and exacts it in return from them.

— William Hazlitt

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More quotes by William Hazlitt

The true barbarian is he who thinks every thing barbarous but his own tastes and prejudices.

Characteristics, in the manner of Rochefoucauld's Maxims (1823)

The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.

Political Essays (1819)

The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure much.

Those who aim at faultless regularity will only produce mediocrity, and no one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves.

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.

Lectures on the English Comic Writers (1819)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Hazlitt (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.