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.”

“Except for the young or very happy, I can't say I am sorry for anyone who dies.”

“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.”

“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.”

“It is to the middle-class we must look for the safety of England.”

“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.”

“In a word, in adversity she was the best of comforters, in good fortune the most troublesome of friends...”

“I never knew whether to pity or congratulate a man on coming to his senses.”

“To love and win is the best thing.To love and lose, the next best.”

“Whatever you are, be a good one.”

“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.”

“Let a man who has to make his fortune in life remember this maxim: Attacking is the only secret. Dare and the world yields, or if it beats you sometimes, dare it again and you will succeed.”

“Never lose a chance of saying a kind word.”

“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?”

“Next to the young, I suppose the very old are the most selfish.”

“הכול הבל הבלים, הכול הבל הבלים. מי מאיתנו מאושר בעולם הזה? מי מקבל את מה שחלם עליו?”

“הוא הפך לעצלן ללא יוזמה, מפויס וכנוע. דלילה גזלה ממנו את החופש, גזרה את שיערו. הוא השמין, הפך לאיש חסר עמוד שדרה.”

“להיות צודק תמיד, תמיד לשעוט קדימה ולעולם לא להסס, כלום אין אלו סגולות שבכוחן צועדת האטימות בראש תמיד?”

“החיים הם כמו מראה: אם אתה מזעיף אליהם פנים, הם יזעפו בחזרה; אם אתה מאיר אליהם פנים הם ישיבו לך ברכה.”

“הטוב ביותר הוא לאהוב בחוכמה, ללא ספק, אבל לאהוב באופן מטופש טוב יותר מאשר לא לאהוב בכלל.”