William Makepeace Thackeray Quotes
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He who meanly admires mean things is a Snob.
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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. - William Makepeace Thackeray
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Society having ordained certain customs, men are bound to obey the law of society, and conform to its harmless orders.
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In the midst of friends, home, and kind parents, she was alone.
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He who meanly admires a mean thing is a snob--perhaps that is a safe definition of the character.
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How hard it is to make an Englishman acknowledge that he is happy! Pendennis. Book ii. Chap. xxxi.
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Forgotten tones of love recur to us, and kind glances shine out of the past – oh so bright and clear! – oh so longed after! – because they are out of reach; as holiday music from within a prison wall – or sunshine seen through the bars; more prized because unattainable – more bright because of the contrast of present darkness and solitude, whence there is no escape.
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As they say in the old legends]Before a man goes to the devil himself, he sends plenty of other souls thither.
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Since the days of Adam, there has been hardly a mischief done in this world but a woman has been at the bottom of it.
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Alas! we are the sport of destiny.
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The tallest and the smallest among us are so alike diminutive and pitifully base, it is a meanness to calculate the difference.
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That which we call a snob by any other name would still be snobbish.
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Everybody in Vanity Fair must have remarked how well those live who are comfortably and thoroughly in debt; how they deny themselves nothing; how jolly and easy they are in their minds.
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I suppose as long as novels last, and authors aim at interesting their public, there must always be in the story a virtuous and gallant hero; a wicked monster, his opposite; and a pretty girl, who finds a champion. Bravery and virtue conquer beauty; and vice, after seeming to triumph through a certain number of pages, is sure to be discomfited in the last volume, when justice overtakes him, and honest folks come by their own.
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To forego even ambition when the end is gained - who can say this is not greatness?
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It's a great comfort to some people to groan over their imaginary ills.
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We should pay as much reverence to youth as we should to age; there are points in which you young folks are altogether our superiors: and I can't help constantly crying out to persons of my own years, when busied about their young people--leave them alone; don't be always meddling with their affairs, which they can manage for themselves; don't be always insisting upon managing their boats, and putting your oars in the water with theirs.
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Let us people who are so uncommonly clever and learned have a great tenderness and pity for the poor folks who are not endowed with the prodigious talents which we have.
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Come children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out.
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It is from the level of calamities, not that of every-day life, that we learn impressive and useful lessons.
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A fool can no more see his own folly than he can see his ears.
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A cheerful look brings joy to the heart.
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It is best to love wisely, no doubt; but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all.
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The play is done; the curtain drops, Slow falling to the prompter's bell A moment yet the actor stops And looks around to say farewell.