Pride is founded not on the sense of happiness, but on the sense of power.
William HazlittRead
Shall I faint, now that I have poured out the spirit of my mind to the world, and treated many subjects with truth, with freedom, with power, because I have been followed with one cry of abuse ever since for not being a Government tool?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the struggle of expressing one's truth amidst criticism and societal expectations.
In this quotation, William Hazlitt expresses the tension between personal conviction and external judgment. He contemplates the emotional toll of exposing one’s thoughts and truths to the world, especially when faced with backlash for not conforming to the expectations of authority. Hazlitt’s words highlight the challenges of maintaining authenticity and courage despite opposition, emphasizing the value of freedom of expression.
Themes
TruthFreedomCriticismAuthenticityExpression
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of freedom of speech, one might quote Hazlitt to emphasize the dangers of criticism against honest expression.
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
The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving.
Dietrich BonhoefferRead
Let everyone see the blood,' he said. 'Don't clean it up. That's the only way people remember.'... I could see the blood inside my head. It was with me forever, whether or not I wanted to forget.
Alice HoffmanRead
In our view the Olympic idea involves a strong physical culture supplemented on the one hand by mobility, what is so aptly called 'fair play', and on the other hand by aesthetics, that is the cultivation of what is beautiful and graceful.
Pierre De CoubertinRead
Nonviolence against humans cannot take firm hold in society as long as brutality and violence are practiced toward other animals.
Robert ThurmanRead
No man dares to condemn the Christian faith today, because the Christian faith has not been tried. Not until men get rid of the thought that it is a poor machine, an expedient for saving them from suffering and pain; not until they get the grand idea of it as the great power of God present in and through the lives of men; not until then does Christianity enter upon its true trial and become ready to show what it can do.
Phillips BrooksRead
Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.
Bertrand RussellRead