61 Quotes & Sayings By William Makepeace Thackeray

If she did not wish to lead a virtuous life, at least she desired to enjoy a character for virtue, and we know that no lady in the genteel world can possess this desideratum, until she has put on a train and feathers and has been presented to her Sovereign at Court. From that august interview they come out stamped as honest women. The Lord Chamberlain gives them a certificate of virtue. William Makepeace Thackeray

It may be whispered to those uninitiated people who are anxious to know the habits and make the acquaintance of men of letters, that there are no race of people who talk about books, or, perhaps, who read books, so little as literary men. William Makepeace Thackeray

Who has not remarked the readiness with which the closest of friends and honestest of men suspect and accuse each other of cheating when they fall out on money matters? Everybody does it. Everybody is right, I suppose, and the world is a rogue. William Makepeace Thackeray

Think of the condition of Europe for twenty years before, where people were fighting, not by thousands, but by millions; each one of whom as he struck his enemy wounded horribly some other innocent heart far away. William Makepeace Thackeray

A woman may possess the wisdom and chastity of Minerva, and we give no heed to her, if she has a plain face. What folly will not a pair of bright eyes make pardonable? What dullness may not red lips are sweet accents render pleasant? And so, with their usual sense of justice, ladies argue that because a woman is handsome, therefore she is a fool. O ladies, ladies! there are some of you who are neither handsome nor wise. William Makepeace Thackeray

Indeed, for my own part, though I have been repeatedly told by persons for whom I have the greatest respect, that Miss Brown is an insignificant chit, and Mrs. White has nothing but her petit minois chiffonne, and Mrs. Black has not a word to say for herself; yet I know that I have had the most delightful conversations with Mrs. Black (of course, my dear Madam, they are inviolable): I see all the men in a cluster round Mrs. White's chair: all the young fellows battling to dance with Miss Brown; and so I am tempted to think that to be despised by her sex is a very great compliment to a woman. William Makepeace Thackeray

.. I regularly frequent St. George';s, Hanover Square, during the genteel marriage season; and though I have never seen the bridegroom's male friends give way to tears, or the beadles and officiating clergy in any way affected, yet it is not at all uncommon to see women who are not in the least concerned in the operations going on -- old ladies who are long past marrying, stout middle-aged females with plenty of sons and daughters, let alone pretty young creatures in pink bonnets, who are on their promotion, and may naturally taken an interest in the ceremony -- I say it is quite common to see the women present piping, sobbing, sniffling; hiding their little faces in their little useless pocket-handkerchiefs; and heaving, old and young, with emotion. William Makepeace Thackeray

A woman with fair opportunities, and without an absolute hump, may marry WHOM SHE LIKES. William Makepeace Thackeray

Money has only a different value in the eyes of each. William Makepeace Thackeray

To part with money is a sacrifice beyond almost all men endowed with a sense of order. There is scarcely any man alive who does not think himself meritorious for giving his neighbour five pounds. Thriftless gives, not from a beneficent pleasure in giving, but from a lazy delight in spending. He would not deny himself one enjoyment; not his opera-stall, not his horse, not his dinner, not even the pleasure of giving Lazarus the five pounds. . William Makepeace Thackeray

If a man's character is to be abused, say what you will, there's nobody like a relative to do the business. William Makepeace Thackeray

Let the man who has to make his fortune in life remember this maxim. Attacking is his only secret. Dare, and the world always yields: or, if it beat you sometimes, dare again, and it will succumb. William Makepeace Thackeray

There's a great power of imagination about these little creatures, and a creative fancy and belief that is very curious to watch .. . I am sure that horrid matter-of-fact child-rearers .. . do away with the child's most beautiful privilege. I am determined that Anny shall have a very extensive and instructive store of learning in Tom Thumbs, Jack-the-Giant-Killers, etc. William Makepeace Thackeray

Good humor may be said to be one of the very best articles of dress one can wear in society. William Makepeace Thackeray

Mark to yourself the gradual way in which you have been prepared for, and are now led by an irresistible necessity to enter upon your great labour. William Makepeace Thackeray

Heaven help us! The girls have only to turn the tables, and say of one of their own sex, ' She is as vain as a man, ' and they will have perfect reason. The bearded creatures are quite as eager for praise, quite as finikin over their toilets, quite as proud of their personal advantages, quite as conscious of their powers of fascinations, as any coquette in the world. William Makepeace Thackeray

Never lose a chance of saying a kind word. William Makepeace Thackeray

In the midst of friends, home, and kind parents, she was alone. William Makepeace Thackeray

People hate as they love, unreasonably. William Makepeace Thackeray

The moral world has no particular objection to vice, but an insuperable repugnance to hearing vice called by its proper name. William Makepeace Thackeray

Always to be right, always to trample forward, and never to doubt, are not these the great qualities with which dullness takes the lead in the world? William Makepeace Thackeray

When one fib becomes due as it were, you must forge another to take up the old acceptance; and so the stock of your lies in circulation inevitably multiplies, and the danger of detection increases every day. William Makepeace Thackeray

Let me whisper my belief, entre nous, that of those eminent philosophers who cry out against parsons the loudest, there are not many who have got their knowledge of the church by going thither often. William Makepeace Thackeray

Cheerfulness means a contented spirit, a pure heart, a kind and loving disposition; it means humility and ~ charity, a generous appreciation of others, and a modest opinion of self. William Makepeace Thackeray

Sorrows of Werther William Makepeace Thackeray (1811—63) WERTHER had a love for Charlotte Such as words could never utter; Would you know how first he met her? She was cutting bread and butter. Charlotte was a married lady, 5 And a moral man was Werther, And for all the wealth of Indies Would do nothing for to hurt her. So he sigh’d and pin’d and ogled, And his passion boil’d and bubbled, 10 Till he blew his silly brains out, And no more was by it troubled. Charlotte, having seen his body Borne before her on a shutter, Like a well-conducted person, 15 Went on cutting bread and butter. . William Makepeace Thackeray

Of all the vices which degrade the human character, Selfishness is the most odious and contemptible. An undue love of Self leads to the most mon¬strous crimes and occasions the greatest misfortunes both in States and Families. As a selfish man will impoverish his family and often bring them to ruin, so a selfish king brings ruin on his people and often plunges them into war. William Makepeace Thackeray

The wicked are wicked, no doubt, and they go astray and they fall, and they come by their deserts; but who can tell the mischief which the very virtuous do? William Makepeace Thackeray

Here’s a 165-year old but still fitting comment on public officials who are so sure they’re right that they’ll drive over a cliff rather than compromise: “Always to be right, always to trample forward, and never to doubt — are not these the great qualities with which dullness takes the lead in the world?” William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair: a Novel without a Hero (1848).The author’s middle name really was “Makepeace.” As the quote shows, he disliked those who would not. William Makepeace Thackeray

Vanity Fair--Vanity Fair! Here was a man, who could not spell, and did not care to read--who had the habits and the cunning of a boor: whose aim in life was pettifogging: who never had a taste, or emotion, or enjoyment, but what was sordid and foul; and yet he had rank, and honours, and power, somehow: and was a dignitary of the land, and a pillar of the state. He was high sheriff, and rode in a golden coach. Great ministers and statesmen courted him; and in Vanity Fair he had a higher place than the most brilliant genius or spotless virtue. William Makepeace Thackeray

Next to excellence is the appreciation of it. William Makepeace Thackeray

He began to feel that she was very lonely indeed. “If he’d been here, ” she said, “those cowards would never have dared to insult me.” She thought about “him” with great sadness and perhaps longing--about his honest, stupid, constant kindness and fidelity; his never-ceasing obedience; his good humour; his bravery and courage. Very likely she cried, for she was particularly lively, and had put on a little extra rouge, when she came down to dinner. William Makepeace Thackeray

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

Mr Moss's courtyard is railed in like a cage, lest the gentlemen who are boarding with him should take a fancy to escape from his hospitality. William Makepeace Thackeray

It is from the level of calamities ... that we learn impressive and useful lessons. 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. William Makepeace Thackeray

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of children. William Makepeace Thackeray

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

The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it and it will in turn look sourly upon you laugh at it and with it and it is a jolly kind companion. William Makepeace Thackeray

I hope the artist who illustrates this work will take care to do justice to his portrait. Mr. Clive himself, let that painter be assured, will not be too well pleased if his countenance and figure do not receive proper attention. William Makepeace Thackeray

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

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

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

A good laugh is sunshine in the house. William Makepeace Thackeray

Dinner was made for eating, not for talking. William Makepeace Thackeray

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

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

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