Table-Talk · Chapter
On the Past and Future explained
Hazlitt contrasts the innocence and freedom of childhood with the burdens and rigid habits of age, arguing that the will's excessive forward orientation—driven by ambition, passion, and the pursuit of action—distorts our relationship to tim
What happens
Hazlitt contrasts the innocence and freedom of childhood with the burdens and rigid habits of age, arguing that the will's excessive forward orientation—driven by ambition, passion, and the pursuit of action—distorts our relationship to time. He contends that the future dominates our anxieties because it remains a sphere of action, while the past, once removed from the will's reach, can be contemplated calmly. The chapter explores how this imbalance affects happiness, creativity, and the appreciation of life as a whole.
Themes in this chapter
The Psychology of Habit and Novelty
Hazlitt explores how habit coils around the heart, stifling feeling, and how the craving for novelty and strong stimuli arises from over-exertion of the mind.
Intellectual Superiority and Its Disadvantages
The chapter discusses how excessive intellectual exertion leads to irritability, loss of repose, and an inability to enjoy simple pleasures.
Characters to notice
- William Hazlitt
The author and narrator, reflecting on the psychology of time, habit, and the will.
- Sir Joshua Reynolds
Cited as an example of an artist who could never be comfortable away from his painting-room and died of chagrin when unable to paint.
Key passages
“The chain of habit coils itself round the heart, like a serpent, to gnaw and stifle it.”
Habit wraps around our emotions like a snake, slowly choking and destroying them.
Hazlitt uses a vivid metaphor to describe the destructive effect of ingrained routines on emotional freshness.
“We are suspended between tormenting desires and the horrors of ennui.”
We hang in a state of painful longing on one side and unbearable boredom on the other.
This captures the central tension of the chapter: the will's restless oscillation between craving and emptiness.
“The impulse of the will, like the wheels of a carriage going down hill, becomes too strong for the driver, Reason, and cannot be stopped nor kept within bounds.”
The will's momentum, like a carriage rolling downhill, overwhelms reason and becomes uncontrollable.
Hazlitt compares the will to a runaway vehicle, emphasizing how passion and desire can overpower rational control.