"There is no one thoroughly despicable. We cannot descend much lower than an idiot; and an idiot has some advantages over a wise man"
About this Quote
Hazlitt turns a sneer into a lesson. The line first denies the fantasy of pure vileness: no person is wholly contemptible. Human character, as he saw it, is mixed and motley, so even those we are quickest to disdain carry threads of innocence, need, or virtue that defeat total condemnation. He then flips the hierarchy of intellect by suggesting that an idiot may possess real advantages over a wise man. The provocation humbles the pride of reason and offers a sly defense of ordinary life.
What advantages? Freedom from the tortures of self-scrutiny, for one. The reflective mind multiplies doubts, responsibilities, and regrets; it anticipates loss, reads malice, and is rarely at rest. Hazlitt knew the weariness that comes from seeing too much and feeling it closely. The simple mind is spared that inward storm. It can be happier by accident, decisive without paralysis, sincere without artifice, and less tempted by the vices that attend superiority: vanity, contempt, and the cruelty of refined judgment. Wisdom without charity easily curdles into scorn; ignorance, lacking weapons of subtlety, may be kinder by default.
The aphorism fits Hazlitt’s larger Romantic-era campaign against cant and pretension. A radical in politics and a lover of Shakespearean breadth, he distrusted any scale that ranked people by cleverness alone. He also prized the impulsive, the heartfelt, the unpolished energies of common existence. By calling our attention to the idiot’s advantages, he exposes a paradox of moral life: the very faculties that distinguish the wise can estrange them from others and from happiness, while those at the bottom of the ladder retain forms of innocence and grace.
The point is not to exalt folly but to rebuke contempt. Since none of us is thoroughly despicable, superiority must be worn lightly. True wisdom is measured less by sharp thoughts than by the breadth of sympathy that keeps judgment from hardening into disdain.
What advantages? Freedom from the tortures of self-scrutiny, for one. The reflective mind multiplies doubts, responsibilities, and regrets; it anticipates loss, reads malice, and is rarely at rest. Hazlitt knew the weariness that comes from seeing too much and feeling it closely. The simple mind is spared that inward storm. It can be happier by accident, decisive without paralysis, sincere without artifice, and less tempted by the vices that attend superiority: vanity, contempt, and the cruelty of refined judgment. Wisdom without charity easily curdles into scorn; ignorance, lacking weapons of subtlety, may be kinder by default.
The aphorism fits Hazlitt’s larger Romantic-era campaign against cant and pretension. A radical in politics and a lover of Shakespearean breadth, he distrusted any scale that ranked people by cleverness alone. He also prized the impulsive, the heartfelt, the unpolished energies of common existence. By calling our attention to the idiot’s advantages, he exposes a paradox of moral life: the very faculties that distinguish the wise can estrange them from others and from happiness, while those at the bottom of the ladder retain forms of innocence and grace.
The point is not to exalt folly but to rebuke contempt. Since none of us is thoroughly despicable, superiority must be worn lightly. True wisdom is measured less by sharp thoughts than by the breadth of sympathy that keeps judgment from hardening into disdain.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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