William Makepeace Thackeray Quotes

Follow your honest convictions and be strong.

The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.

I would rather make my name than inherit it.

Do not be in a hurry to succeed. What would you have to live for afterwards? Better make the horizon your goal; it will always be ahead of you.

A good laugh is sunshine in the house.

Good humor is one of the best articles of dress one can wear in society.

It is best to love wisely, no doubt; but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all.

It is only hope which is real, and reality is a bitterness and a deceit.

Kindnesses are easily forgotten; but injuries! what worthy man does not keep those in mind?

Next to excellence is the appreciation of it.

People hate as they love, unreasonably.

I never knew whether to pity or congratulate a man on coming to his senses.

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.

William Makepeace Thackeray
English Novelist

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Ah me! we wound where we never intended to strike; we create anger where we never meant harm; and these thoughts are the thorns in our cushion.

It's not dying for faith that's so hard, it's living up to it.

A fool can no more see his own folly than he can see his ears.

When you look at me, when you think of me, I am in paradise.

When I walk with you I feel as if I had a flower in my buttonhole.

To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best.

Tis strange what a man may do, and a woman yet think him an angel.

The book of female logic is blotted all over with tears, and Justice in their courts is forever in a passion.

A clever, ugly man every now and then is successful with the ladies, but a handsome fool is irresistible.

Remember, it's as easy to marry a rich woman as a poor woman.

William Makepeace Thackeray
A Portrait

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To endure is greater than to dare; to tire out hostile fortune; to be daunted by no difficulty; to keep heart when all have lost it - who can say this is not greatness?

Novelty has charms that our minds can hardly withstand.

If a secret history of books could be written, and the author's private thoughts and meanings noted down alongside of his story, how many insipid volumes would become interesting, and dull tales excite the reader!

Let a man who has to make his fortune in life remember this maxim: Attacking is the only secret. Dare and the world yields, or if it beats you sometimes, dare it again and you will succeed.

Except for the young or very happy, I can't say I am sorry for anyone who dies.

Next to the young, I suppose the very old are the most selfish.

People who do not know how to laugh are always pompous and self-conceited.

The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new.

There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write.

Bravery never goes out of fashion.

William Makepeace Thackeray
English Novelist

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An evil person is like a dirty window, they never let the light shine through.

Dinner was made for eating, not for talking.

Despair is perfectly compatible with a good dinner, I promise you.

It is impossible, in our condition of Society, not to be sometimes a Snob.

It is to the middle-class we must look for the safety of England.

There are many sham diamonds in this life which pass for real, and vice versa.

What money is better bestowed than that of a schoolboy's tip? How the kindness is recalled by the recipient in after days! It blesses him that gives and him that takes.

These William Makepeace Thackeray quotes are dedicated to my friend, Mandy Makepeace. Mandy, I am so very blessed to have a friend like you. Thank You!

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