Pride is founded not on the sense of happiness, but on the sense of power.
William HazlittRead
The love of fame is almost another name for the love of excellence; or it is the ambition to attain the highest excellence, sanctioned by the highest authority, that of time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The desire for fame is closely tied to the pursuit of excellence and recognition over time.
In this quote, Hazlitt suggests that the yearning for fame is fundamentally linked to a desire for excellence. He argues that this ambition is validated by time, indicating that true excellence is acknowledged and appreciated in the long run, beyond mere fleeting recognition.
Themes
FameExcellenceAmbitionRecognitionTime
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a graduation speech to inspire students to pursue excellence.
More from William Hazlitt
All quotes →The world loves to be amused by hollow professions, to be deceived by flattering appearances, to live in a state of hallucination; and can forgive everything but the plain, downright, simple, honest truth.
William HazlittRead
Our repugnance to death increases in proportion to our consciousness of having lived in vain.
William HazlittRead
We can bear to be deprived of everything but our self-conceit.
William HazlittRead
There are few things in which we deceive ourselves more than in the esteem we profess to entertain for our firends. 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 HazlittRead
Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.
William HazlittRead
Similar quotes
Darkness cannot cast out darkness. You need a light for that. Fear cannot cast out fear. You're gonna need hope for that death warrants more death. But I believe life wants more life and I'm convinced that the greatest weapon we've got is LOVE! And maybe, in a world full of fighters, in a world imploding with hate, maybe to be a lover, you gotta be a fighter. Maybe that's the biggest fight, the only fight worth fighting, the fight you're gonna be in for the rest of your life.
Jon ForemanRead
We were so young, so in love, and so in debt.
Michelle ObamaRead
Devils can be driven out of the heart by the touch of a hand on a hand, or a mouth on a mouth.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
I have fallen in love with American names, the sharp names that never get fat.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
In order not to suffer, you had to renounce love. It was like putting out your own eyes in order not to see the bad things in life.
Paulo CoelhoRead
Venus, when her son was lost,_x000D_ _x000D_ Cried him up and down the coast,_x000D_ _x000D_ In hamlets, palaces, and parks,_x000D_ _x000D_ And told the truant by his marks,-_x000D_ _x000D_ Golden curls, and quiver, and bow.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead