It is an awful thing to get a glimpse, as one sometimes does, when the time is past, of some little, little wheel which works the whole mighty machinery of fate, and see how our destinies turn on a minute’s delay or advance.
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAYWe know that Heaven chastens those whom it loves best; being pleased by repeated trials, to make pure spirits more pure.
More William Makepeace Thackeray Quotes
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Frequent the company of your betters.
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Under the magnetism of friendship the modest man becomes bold; the shy, confident; the lazy, active; and the impetuous, prudent and peaceful.
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Life is a mirror: if you frown at it, it frowns back; if you smile, it returns the greeting.
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A lady who sets her heart upon a lad in uniform must prepare to change lovers pretty quickly, or her life will be but a sad one.
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.
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Then sing as Martin Luther sang, As Doctor Martin Luther sang, “Who loves not wine, woman and song, He is a fool his whole life long.”
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY -
It’s a great comfort to some people to groan over their imaginary ills.
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Kindnesses are easily forgotten; but injuries! what worthy man does not keep those in mind?
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY -
Kindness is very indigestible. It disagrees with very proud stomachs.
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If there is no love more in yonder heart, it is but a corpse unburied.
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One of the greatest of a great man’s qualities is success; ‘t is the result of all the others; ‘t is a latent power in him which compels the favor of the gods, and subjugates fortune.
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It is comparatively easy to leave a mistress, but very hard to be left by one.
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An immense percentage of snobs, I believe, is to be found in every rank of this mortal life.
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Oh, Vanity of vanities! How wayward the decrees of Fate are; How very weak the very wise, How very small the very great are!
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When Fate wills that something should come to pass, she sends forth a million of little circumstances to clear and prepare the way.
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY






