William M. Thackeray Quotes (23 Quotes)

By economy and good management -- by a sparing use of ready money and by paying scarcely anybody, -- people can manage to make a great show with very little means.

Everyone knows the harm the bad do, but who knows the mischief done by the good

So he sighed and pined and ogled,And his passion boiled and bubbled,Till he blew his silly brains out,And no more was by it troubled.

And oh, what a mercy it is that these women do not exercise their powers oftener We can't resist them, if they do. Let them show ever so little inclination, and men go down on their knees at once old or ugly, it is all the same. And this I set down as a positive truth. A woman with fair opportunities, and without an absolute hump, may marry whom she likes. Only let us be thankful that the darlings are like the beasts of the field, and don't know their own power. They would overcome us entirely if they did.

Those who forgets their friends to follow those of a higher status are truly snobs.

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.

The pipe draws wisdom from the lips of the philosopher, and shuts up the mouth of the foolish it generates a style of conversation, contemplative, thoughtful, benevolent, and unaffected.

She looks so haughty that I should have thought her a princess at the very least, with a pedigree reaching as far back as the Deluge. But this lady was no better born than many other ladies who give themselves airs and all sensible people laughed at her absurd pretensions.

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.

The two most engaging powers of a good author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new.

Always remember to take the door-key.

Next to excellence, comes the appreciation of it.

Come, children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out.

When we say of a gentleman that he lives elegantly on nothing a year, we use the word nothing to signify something unknown meaning, simply, that we don't know how the gentleman in question defrays the expenses of his establishment.

A Tragic Story --- William M. Thackeray There lived a sage in days of yore, And he a handsome pigtail wore But wondered much, and sorrowed more, Because it hung behind him. He mused upon this curious case, And swore he'd change the pigtail's place, And have it hanging at his face, Not dangling there behind him. Says he, Ah, the mystery I've found-- I'll turn me round, --he turned him round But still it hung behind him. Then round and round, and out and in, All day the puzzled sage did spin In vain--it mattered not a pin-- The pigtail hung behind him. And right, and left, and round about, And up, and down, and in, and out He turned but still the pigtail stout Hung steadily behind him. And though his efforts never slack, And though he twist, and twirl, and tack, Alas Still faithful to his back, The pigtail hangs behind him.

If, in looking at the lives of princes, courtiers, men of rank and fashion, we must perforce depict them as idle, profligate, and criminal, we must make allowances for the rich men's failings, and recollect that we, too, were very likely indolent and voluptuous, had we no motive for work, a mortal's natural taste for pleasure, and the daily temptation of a large income. What could a great peer, with a great castle and park, and a great fortune, do but be splendid and idle.

Certain opuscules, denominated 'Christmas Books,' with the ostensible intention of swelling the tide of exhilaration, or other expansive emotions, incident upon the exodus of the old and the inauguration of the new year

I have long gone about with a conviction on my mind that I had a work to do -- a Work, if you like, with a great W a Purpose to fulfil.

What peace, what love, what truth, what beauty, what happiness for all, what generous kindness for you and me, are here spread out.

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.

Never lose a chance of saying a kind word.

As an occupation in declining years, I declare I think saving is useful, amusing and not unbecoming. It must be a perpetual amusement. It is a game that can be played by day, by night, at home and abroad, and at which you must win in the long run. . . . What an interest it imparts to life.

Who misses, or who wins the prizeGo, lose and conquer as you canBut if you fail, or if you rise,Be each, pray God, a gentleman.