Pride is founded not on the sense of happiness, but on the sense of power.
William HazlittRead
As hypocrisy is said to be the highest compliment to virtue, the art of lying is the strongest acknowledgment of the force of truth.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Hypocrisy highlights the value of virtue, while lying underscores the power of truth.
In this quote, Hazlitt suggests that even when people engage in hypocrisy or deceit, it is a reflection of their recognition of virtue and truth. By acknowledging the existence of virtue through their insincere actions, hypocrites inadvertently pay homage to the ideals they fail to live by, while the act of lying itself is an admission of the undeniable strength that truth holds over the human experience.
Themes
HypocrisyTruthVirtueLyingAcknowledgment
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about ethics, one might quote Hazlitt to illustrate the complex relationship between truth and deceit.
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
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