Pride is founded not on the sense of happiness, but on the sense of power.
William HazlittRead
The love of fame is almost another name for the love of excellence; or it is the ambition to attain the highest excellence, sanctioned by the highest authority, that of time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The desire for fame is closely tied to the pursuit of excellence and recognition over time.
In this quote, Hazlitt suggests that the yearning for fame is fundamentally linked to a desire for excellence. He argues that this ambition is validated by time, indicating that true excellence is acknowledged and appreciated in the long run, beyond mere fleeting recognition.
Themes
FameExcellenceAmbitionRecognitionTime
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a graduation speech to inspire students to pursue excellence.
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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To all, I would say how mistaken they are when they think that they stop falling in love when they grow old, without knowing that they grow old when they stop falling in love...
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