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I believe that remorse is the least active of all a man's moral senses.

William Makepeace Thackeray

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William Makepeace Thackeray
Age: 52 †
Born: 1811
Born: July 18
Died: 1863
Died: December 24
Novelist
Prosaist
Writer
Calcutta
William Makepeace Thackeray
George Fitz-Boodle
Moral
Believe
Men
Remorse
Senses
Active
Least

More quotes by William Makepeace Thackeray

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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 and so let all young persons take their choice.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Young ladies may have been crossed in love, and have had their sufferings, their frantic moments of grief and tears, their wakeful nights, and so forth but it is only in very sentimental novels that people occupy themselves perpetually with that passion, and I believe what are called broken hearts are a very rare article indeed.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Might I give counsel to any man, I would say to him, try to frequent the company of your betters. In books and in life, that is the most wholesome society learn to admire rightly the great pleasure of life is that. Note what great men admire.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Fairy roses, fairy rings, turn out sometimes troublesome things.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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For his part, every beauty of art or nature made him thankful as well as happy, and that the pleasure to be had in listening to fine music, as in looking at the stars in the sky, or at a beautiful landscape or picture, was a benefit for which we might thank Heaven as sincerely as for any other worldly blessing.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Every man ought to be in love a few times in his life, and to have a smart attack of the fever. You are better for it when it is over: the better for your misfortune, if you endure it with a manly heart how much the better for success, if you win it and a good wife into the bargain!
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Perhaps there is no greater test of a man's regularity and easiness of conscience than his readiness to face the postman. Blessed is he who is made happy by the sound of a rat-tat! The good are eager for it but the naughty tremble at the sound thereof.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Happiest time of youth and life, when love is first spoken and returned when the dearest eyes are daily shining welcome, and the fondest lips never tire of whispering their sweet secrets when the parting look that accompanies Good night! gives delightful warning of tomorrow.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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There is a skeleton in every house.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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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.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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It seems to me one cannot sit down in that place [the Round Reading room of the British Museum] without a heart full of grateful reverence. I own to have said my grace at the table, and to have thanked Heaven for my English birthright, freely to partake of these beautiful books, and speak the truth I find there.
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.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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It is comparatively easy to leave a mistress, but very hard to be left by one.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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A cheerful look brings joy to the heart.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Never lose a chance of saying a kind word. As Collingwood never saw a vacant place in his estate but he took an acorn out of his pocket and planted it, so deal with your compliments through life. An acorn costs nothing, but it may spread into a prodigious timber.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Next to the very young, I suppose the very old are the most selfish.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Be it remembered that man subsists upon the air more than upon his meat and drink but no one can exist for an hour without a copious supply of air. The atmosphere which some breathe is contaminated and adulterated, and with its vital principles so diminished that it cannot fully decarbonize the blood, nor fully excite the nervous system.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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I never knew whether to pity or congratulate a man on coming to his senses.
William Makepeace Thackeray