William Hazlitt Quotes
There is no one thoroughly despicable. We cannot descend much lower than an idiot; and an idiot has some advantages over a wise man.
Hazlitt, William. Characteristics: In the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims. Simpkin and Marshall, 1823.
Teller had been a strong proponent of developing the H-bomb. Oppenheimer, however, was opposed on moral and strategic grounds. Politically, Oppenheimer had a strong following, having been the “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” and his opposition was hurting the political effort to vote the funds. The Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Lewis L. Strauss, and some in the military decided that they would discredit Oppenheimer by claiming that he had communist leanings and his ideas were influenced by his pro-communist views. Oppenheimer was an easy victim as his brother had been a card-carrying communist and he had always known many left wing academic intellectuals in his university background. Despite the fact that all this had been known by the government security people for years and he had never let a secret leak, a hearing was held to determine whether Oppenheimer’s security clearance should be removed. The key testimony was given by General Groves, Oppenheimer’s former boss who had cleared Oppenheimer for security for years, and Teller. It was later discovered that Groves had been blackmailed into testifying against Oppenheimer. Later Teller, who defended his strong views contrary to Oppenheimer’s, regretted that he won his battle the way he did and told the world that Oppenheimer was a patriot and would never do anything knowingly to hurt his country. To the end of his career over 50 years afterward, there were still many scientists who would turn their backs on Teller at scientific meeting and would not even shake his hand.
He was persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church for figuring out that the earth revolved around the sun which was contrary to church teaching at the time.
This is a classic generalization that has little validity if any. There is no typical white intellectual, just as there is no typical American or typical politician. And of the white intellectuals, there are very few who hold the two beliefs in the quotation. This type of absurd generalization is unfortunately too common.
He meant to say “repository” and not “suppository”. The latter is a capsule of medicine that is placed inside the rectum.
William Hazlitt was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. He is also acknowledged as the finest art critic of his age. Despite his high standing among historians of literature and art, his work is currently little read and mostly out of print.
