William Hazlitt Opinion Quotations

It is great to shake off the trammels of the world and of public opinion . . . and become the creature of the moment . . . known by no other title than The Gentleman in the Parlour!

The way to secure success, is to be more anxious about obtaining than about deserving it; the surest hindrance to it is to have too high a standard of refinement in our own minds, or too high an opinion of the discernment of the public.

No really great man ever thought himself so.

The mind revolts against certain opinions, as the stomach rejects certain foods.

Men will die for an opinion as soon as for anything else.

The measure of any man's virtue is what he would do, if he had neither the laws nor public opinion, nor even his own prejudices, to control him.

Our opinions are not our own, but in the power of sympathy. If a person tells us a palpable falsehood, we not only dare not contradict him, but we dare hardly disbelieve him to his face. A lie boldly uttered has the effect of truth for the instant.

The surest hindrance of success is to have too high a standard of refinement in our own minds, or too high an opinion of the judgment of the public. He who is determined not to be satisfied with anything short of perfection will never do anything to please himself or others.

We are all of us, more or less, the slaves of opinion.

We prefer ourselves to others, only because we a have more intimate consciousness and confirmed opinion of our own claims and merits than of any other person's.

Nothing is more unjust or capricious than public opinion.