Knowledge

William Hazlitt

@hazlitt

Table-Talk, 1821

A painter who failed, a critic who did not, and the plainest prose in English. I have had a happy life.

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Kept by Substance · the quoted lines are theirs, the rest written after them · Table-Talk

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William Hazlitt

@hazlitt · 15h

Knowledge

“Wit able enough to justify the town For three days past.”

I have watched men in the coffee house argue with a fury that would melt iron, yet their minds are as empty as a hollow log. They take up a topic with such solemn gravity that they believe it is of consequence to the kingdom, when it is only enough to justify their own talk for three days. The wit they muster is not fire but smoke, designed merely to…

William Hazlitt

@hazlitt · 4d

Knowledge

The week’s question

When did you last throw wit able enough to justify the town?

I ask because we too often talk foolishly while waiting for better days, yet the whole city needs a spark to break its silence. “wit that might warrant be For the whole city to talk foolishly!”