"Every man, in his own opinion, forms an exception to the ordinary rules of morality"
About this Quote
Hazlitt goes straight for the smug little loophole most people keep tucked behind their principles. The line is built like a moral trap: “ordinary rules” suggests a shared code we like to believe governs everyone, while “in his own opinion” exposes how quickly that code collapses the moment the self is on trial. He isn’t arguing that morality is meaningless; he’s arguing that our relationship to it is opportunistic. We praise rules in public because rules make other people legible. We suspend them in private because exceptions make us comfortable.
The phrasing matters. “Every man” is sweeping, almost prosecutorial, and the absolutism is the point: Hazlitt isn’t diagnosing rare hypocrisy, he’s describing a default setting of human psychology. “Forms an exception” is especially damning because it’s active. The exception isn’t discovered; it’s manufactured. We don’t merely slip. We construct a narrative where our motives are purer, our pressures more complex, our circumstances uniquely mitigating. Other people cheat. We had to. Other people are cruel. We were being honest.
As a critic writing in an era of political upheaval and moral grandstanding (post-Revolution, post-Napoleon, in the thick of British reform debates), Hazlitt knew how readily public virtue becomes performance. The subtext is less “people are bad” than “people are skilled lawyers for their own innocence.” It’s cynicism with an ethical bite: if you want morality to mean anything, start by distrusting the special pleading voice in your head.
The phrasing matters. “Every man” is sweeping, almost prosecutorial, and the absolutism is the point: Hazlitt isn’t diagnosing rare hypocrisy, he’s describing a default setting of human psychology. “Forms an exception” is especially damning because it’s active. The exception isn’t discovered; it’s manufactured. We don’t merely slip. We construct a narrative where our motives are purer, our pressures more complex, our circumstances uniquely mitigating. Other people cheat. We had to. Other people are cruel. We were being honest.
As a critic writing in an era of political upheaval and moral grandstanding (post-Revolution, post-Napoleon, in the thick of British reform debates), Hazlitt knew how readily public virtue becomes performance. The subtext is less “people are bad” than “people are skilled lawyers for their own innocence.” It’s cynicism with an ethical bite: if you want morality to mean anything, start by distrusting the special pleading voice in your head.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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