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There are few things in which we deceive ourselves more than in the esteem we profess to entertain for our friends. It is little better than a piece of quackery. The truth is, we think of them as we please — that is as they please or displease us.

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

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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.