Pride is founded not on the sense of happiness, but on the sense of power.
William HazlittRead
A scholar is like a book written in a dead language. It is not every one that can read in it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the idea that deep knowledge can be difficult for most to understand and appreciate.
William Hazlitt's quote compares a scholar to a book written in a dead language, suggesting that while scholars possess valuable knowledge, it is often inaccessible or comprehensible only to a select few. Just as a dead language may not be understood by the masses, the insights and wisdom of scholars may go unrecognized or misinterpreted by those who lack the necessary background or context to appreciate them.
Themes
ScholarKnowledgeEducationUnderstandingWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech, one might say this quote to emphasize the importance of deep learning.
More from William Hazlitt
All quotes βThe 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
Sometimes, immersed in his books, there would come to him the awareness of all that he did not know, of all that he had not read; and the serenity for which he labored was shattered as he realized the little time he had in life to read so much, to learn what he had to know.
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Each culture has some knowledge. That's why I studied with Saj Dev, an Indian flute player. That's why I studied Stockhausen's music. The pygmies' music of the rain forest is very rich music. So the knowledge is out there. And I also believe one should seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave. With that kind of inquisitiveness, one discovers things that were unknown before.
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Writing is hard work and bad for the health.
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'Charlotte's Web,' which I read sitting on my mother's lap, was the most emotional experience: that was when I made the leap from seeing how to untangle words to realizing how books both contain and convey strong feelings.
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I wanted to read immediately. The only fear was that of books coming to an end.
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