QuoteProject
It is not fit that every man should travel; it makes a wise man better, and a fool worse.
William Hazlitt
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Travel can enhance a wise person's understanding but can exacerbate a fool's ignorance.

This quote by William Hazlitt suggests that travel is not universally beneficial; for those who possess wisdom, the experience can broaden their perspectives and deepen their understanding. Conversely, for those lacking wisdom, travel may lead them to make foolish decisions or act even more ignorantly, ultimately putting them in a worse position than before.

Themes

TravelWisdomFoolExperiencesGrowth

In practice

Example use cases

Encouraging students to explore different cultures during a graduation speech.

More from William Hazlitt

Pride is founded not on the sense of happiness, but on the sense of power.
William HazlittRead
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

A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect praise or reward.
Ajahn ChahRead
Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.
Pema ChodronRead
Every industrious man, in every lawful calling, is a useful man. And one principal reason why men are so often useless is that they neglect their own profession or calling, and divide and shift their attention among a multiplicity of objects and pursuits.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right
Mark TwainRead
Words are like Leaves; and where they most abound, Much Fruit of Sense beneath is rarely found.
Alexander PopeRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.