Famous William Makepeace Thackeray Quotations

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"'Tis not the dying for a faith that's so hard, Master Harry -- every man of every nation has done that -- 'tis the living up to it that's difficult."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"A clever, ugly man every now and then is successful with the ladies, but a handsome fool is irresistible."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"A cheerful look brings joy to the heart."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"A good laugh is sunshine in a house."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Attacking is the only secret. Dare and the world always yields; or if it beats you sometimes, dare it again and it will succumb."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Attacking is the only secret. Dare and the world always yields or if it beats you sometimes, dare it again and it will succumb."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Bravery never goes out of fashion."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"I would rather make my name than inherit it."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Life is the soul's nursery--Its training place for the destinies of eternity."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children"
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Next to excellence is the appreciation of it."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"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"
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"To love and win is the best thing, to love and lose, the next best."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"When I walk with you I feel as if I had a flower in my buttonhole."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"If a man character is to be abused there's nobody like a relative to do the business."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"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."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"There is no good in living in a society where you are merely the equal of everybody else. The true pleasure of life is to live with your inferiors."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"It's not dying for faith that's so hard, it's living up to it."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"'Tis not the dying for a faith that's so hard... 'Tis the living up to it that's difficult."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"People hate as they love, unreasonably."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"It is best to love wisely, no doubt: but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"A good laugh is sunshine in the house."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Next to excellence, comes the appreciation of it."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"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!"
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"I never know whether to pity or congratulate a man on coming to his senses."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Next to the young, I suppose the very old are the most selfish."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Certain it is that scandal is good brisk talk, whereas praise of one's neighbor is by no means lively hearing. An acquaintance grilled, scored, devilled, and served with mustard and cayenne pepper excites the appetite; whereas a slice of cold friend with currant jelly is but a sickly, unrelishing meat."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"We who have lived before railways were made belong to another world. It was only yesterday, but what a gulf between now and then! Then was the old world. Stage-coaches, more or less swift, riding-horses, pack-horses, highwaymen, knights in armor, Norman invaders, Roman legions, Druids, Ancient Britons painted blue, and so forth -- all these belong to the old period. But your railroad starts the new era, and we of a certain age belong to the new time and the old one. We who lived before railways, and survive out of the ancient world, are like Father Noah and his family out of the Ark."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Come children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Now they heap the funeral pyre, And the torch of death they light; Ah! 'tis hard to die by fire!"
by William Makepeace Thackeray


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