QuoteProject
He is a hypocrite who professes what he does not believe; not he who does not practice all he wishes or approves.
William Hazlitt
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

A hypocrite is someone who claims to hold beliefs they do not truly embrace, while it's acceptable to struggle with one's actions.

William Hazlitt's quote highlights the concept of hypocrisy, emphasizing that true hypocrisy arises not from failing to live up to one's ideals but from pretending to believe in something one does not genuinely uphold. It suggests that a person who may not act upon all their beliefs can still be more authentic than someone who outwardly professes beliefs they do not possess internally.

Themes

HypocrisyBeliefsAuthenticityIntegrityPhilosophy

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used when discussing ethical behavior in a classroom setting.

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

Life is an unbroken succession of false situations.
Thornton WilderRead
Children play soldier. That makes sense. But why do soldiers play children?
Karl KrausRead
When a plane crashes and some die while others live, a skeptic calls into question God's moral character, saying that he has chosen some to live and others to die on a whim; yet you say it is your moral right to choose whether the child within you should live or die. Does that not sound odd to you? When God decides who should live or die, he is immoral. When you decide who should live or die, it's your moral right.
Ravi ZachariasRead
Nothing is so fatal to religion as indifference.
Edmund BurkeRead
In antiquity the sage kings recognized that men's nature is bad and that their tendencies were not being corrected and their lawlessness controlled.
XunziRead
It is very hard to say the exact truth, even about your own immediate feelings – much harder than to say something fine about them which is not the exact truth.
George EliotRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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