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Diffidence is a sort of false modesty.

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
Diffidence
Modesty
False
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More quotes by William Makepeace Thackeray

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Which of us that is thirty years old has not had its Pompeii? Deep under ashes lies the life of youth--the careless sport, the pleasure and the passion, the darling joy.
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I believe that remorse is the least active of all a man's moral senses.
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Almost all women will give a sympathizing hearing to men who are in love. Be they ever so old, they grow young again with that conversation, and renew their own early times.
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It is to the middle-class we must look for the safety of England.
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Are not there little chapters in everybody's life, that seem to be nothing, and yet affect all the rest of the history?
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To see a young couple loving each other is no wonder but to see an old couple loving each other is the best sight of all.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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A pair of bright eyes with a dozen glances suffice to subdue a man to enslave him, and enflame him to make him even forget they dazzle him so that the past becomes straightway dim to him and he so prizes them that he would give all his life to possess 'em.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Revenge may be wicked, but it’s natural.
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Tis misfortune that awakens ingenuity, or fortitude, or endurance, in hearts where these qualities had never come to life but for the circumstance which gave them a being.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Sure, occasion is the father of most that is good in us.
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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 ... a Great Social Evil to Discover and to Remedy.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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All amusements to which virtuous women are not admitted, are, rely upon it, deleterious in their nature.
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Do not be in a hurry to succeed. What would you have to live for afterwards? Better make the horizon your goal it will always be ahead of you.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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If you had told Sycorax that her son Caliban was as handsome as Apollo, she would have been pleased, witch as she was.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Follow your honest convictions and be strong.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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An intelligent wife can make her home, in spite of exigencies, pretty much what she pleases.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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What will a man not do when frantic with love? To what baseness will he not demean himself? What pangs will he not make others suffer, so that he may ease his selfish heart?
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Oh, those women! They nurse and cuddle their presentiments, and make darlings of their ugliest thoughts.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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As fits the holy Christmas birth, Be this, good friends, our carol still Be peace on earth, be peace on earth, To men of gentle will.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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Sir, Respect Your Dinner: idolize it, enjoy it properly. You will be many hours in the week, many weeks in the year, and many years in your life happier if you do.
William Makepeace Thackeray