William Hazlitt
Explore the life, essays, criticism, and enduring insight of William Hazlitt (1778–1830)—one of England’s greatest essayists and critics. Read about his biography, ideas, legacy, and memorable quotes.
Introduction
William Hazlitt (10 April 1778 – 18 September 1830) was an English essayist, literary and drama critic, painter, philosopher, and social commentator.
Early Life and Education
William Hazlitt was born in Maidstone, Kent, England on 10 April 1778.
His formal education was relatively limited. He attended a Unitarian seminary at New College, Hackney for about two years, where he studied philosophy, languages, and the classics.
Career and Works
Early Writing & Journalism
Hazlitt’s early career involved contributions to journals, newspapers, and periodicals. He worked as a parliamentary reporter for the Morning Chronicle, and wrote book, drama, and art reviews.
Major Essay Collections
Among his significant works:
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Table-Talk (Vol. I, 1821; Vol. II, 1822) — a collection of essays on literature, life, art, philosophy, and social observation. Many critics consider this among his finest achievements.
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The Spirit of the Age (1825) — a set of portraits (figurative and critical) of the leading thinkers, writers, and public figures of his time, offering sharp commentary on the intellectual climate.
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On the Pleasure of Hating, Characteristics, The Plain Speaker, and other essays and polemical works exploring human psychology, society, and literary criticism.
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Characters of Shakespear’s Plays — a work of literary and dramatic criticism analyzing Shakespeare's characters with insight and bold judgment.
His essays are notable for combining personal reflection, intellectual argument, and literary sensitivity.
Style, Themes & Critical Vision
Hazlitt’s style is vivid, conversational but intellectually rigorous. He often wrote in a tone as if speaking directly to his reader—imbued with emotional energy, moral urgency, and clarity.
Themes and critical concerns in Hazlitt’s work include:
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Individual perception and sincerity: Hazlitt valued the honest, felt experience of the individual, resisting empty pretension and hypocrisy.
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Moral seriousness: His criticism is not merely aesthetic; he judges works in relation to human character, virtue, truth.
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Freedom of judgment: He often opposed dogma, faction, and conformity, championing independent thinking.
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The life of feeling: He believed that emotional experience, passion, and sensibility are integral to art and thought.
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Literary criticism as lived thought: For Hazlitt, criticism was an act of living—engaged, personal, committed, not disinterested detachment.
He was part of the Romantic era in England and was influenced by the intellectual ferment around him (Coleridge, Wordsworth, etc.), yet retained an individual voice, sometimes in tension with those he admired.
Personality & Personal Life
Hazlitt was known to be passionate, outspoken, and sometimes combative in his literary relationships. He did not shy from controversy and often critiqued his peers—even those he admired. He had relationships and emotional entanglements that sometimes troubled him personally. (For example, his work Liber Amoris (1823) is a partly autobiographical, intense, confessional book about unrequited love.) Financial difficulties, health issues, and personal conflicts marred parts of his life. He died in London on 18 September 1830.
Despite challenges, his intellectual legacy has grown, with later generations rediscovering his essays and recognizing his pioneering role in criticism and literary essays.
Legacy & Influence
Hazlitt’s influence is broad though sometimes underrecognized. He is often lauded as:
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One of the greatest English-language essayists and critics after Samuel Johnson.
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A central figure in Romantic literary criticism, bridging personal reflection and rigorous judgment.
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A precursor to modern forms of criticism and the personal essay, in which criticism becomes a moral and intellectual engagement with art and life.
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An influence on later writers who prize clarity, vigor, ethical commitment, and the essay as a mode of reflection.
While many of his works drifted out of general circulation over time, literary scholars, essayists, and students of criticism continue to revive and study his writings.
Notable Quotes
Here are several memorable and widely cited quotes by Hazlitt:
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“The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.”
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“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.”
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“The seat of knowledge is in the head; of wisdom, in the heart. We are sure to judge wrong, if we do not feel right.”
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“He will never have true friends who is afraid of making enemies.”
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“Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.”
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“You know more of a road by having travelled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world.”
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“The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much.”
These lines reflect his moral intensity, his blend of intellect and feeling, and his belief in lived experience as teacher.
Lessons from William Hazlitt
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Criticism springs from engagement
Hazlitt shows that criticism is not distant judgment, but a personal, morally invested act. -
Value honesty over popularity
He often risked alienation by speaking truth to power or prevailing taste; this courage is instructive. -
Blend head and heart
His work insists that intellectual clarity must be married to emotional insight. -
Observation matters
Hazlitt emphasizes attention to details of life, art, nature—those small observations that reveal larger truths. -
Writing as living
He treats the essay not as an academic exercise but as living thought—reflection in public, evolving with life.
Conclusion
William Hazlitt was a singular voice in the landscape of English letters: an essayist who spoke with both fire and intellect, a critic who judged with moral force, a thinker who refused to remain aloof. Though some of his works faded from general reading, his influence endures in the art of the essay, the tradition of criticism, and the belief that intellectual life should be engaged, emotional, and uncompromising.