Time - “On the Past and Future”
William Hazlitt decomposes the leading fragments of time: “I cannot see, then, any rational or logical ground for that mighty difference in the value which mankind generally set upon the past and future, as if the one was everything, and the other nothing—of no consequence whatever. On the other hand, I conceive that the past is as real and substantial a part of our being, that it is as much a bona fide, undeniable consideration in the estimate of human life, as the future can possibly be. To say that the past is of no importance, unworthy of a moment's regard, because it has gone by, and is no longer anything, is an argument that cannot be held to any purpose; for if the past has ceased to be, and is therefore to be accounted nothing in the scale of good or evil, the future is yet to come, and has never been anything.” Typically, humans underplay the materiality of the past and overplay the superficial substantiality of the future. Hazlitt avows that the past is a requisite constituent of survival that should not be underestimated because it has passed. The future manifestations are not recognized; therefore, overrating them is injudicious. The past endeavours can be appraised logically because their authenticity can corroborated lucidly.
Rigidity - “On The Ignorance Of The Learned”
Hazlitt expounds that the inelasticity of learners can be traced to colossal ignorance: “It is well, it is perfectly well. 'Leave me to my repose,' is the motto of the sleeping and the dead. You might as well ask the paralytic to leap from his chair and throw away his crutch, or, without a miracle, to 'take up his bed and walk,' as expect the learned reader to throw down his book and think for himself. He clings to it for his intellectual support; and his dread of being left to himself is like the horror of a vacuum. He can only breathe a learned atmosphere, as other men breathe common air. He is a borrower of sense. He has no ideas of his own, and must live on those of other people.” The germane instance relating to the repose accentuates how unwitting individuals fancy sticking to their superficial acquaintance instead of surpassing the arbitrary repose. Enduring the repose corresponds to the inflexibility that promotes ignorance. Hyped books elicit a paralyzing effect that daunts individuals from both autonomy and rationality. Hazlitt contends that infatuation with books prompts individuals to approach their judgments based on the ideas that are enunciated in the books (plagiarized philosophies.)
