William Makepeace Thackeray. 1811-1863. John Bartlett, comp. 1919. Familiar Quotations, 10th ed.

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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

William Makepeace Thackeray. (1811–1863)


1
Although I enter not, Yet round about the spot Ofttimes I hover; And near the sacred gate With longing eyes I wait, Expectant of her.
Pendennis: At the Church Gate.
2
The play is done; the curtain drops, Slow falling to the prompter’s bell A moment yet the actor stops And looks around to say farewell. It is an irksome word and task: And when he’s laughed and said his say He shows, as he removes the mask, A face that’s anything but gay.
The End of the Play.
3
Christmas is here: Winds whistle shrill, Icy and chill. Little care we; Little we fear Weather without, Sheltered about The Mahogany Tree.
The Mahogany Tree.
4
Werther had a love for Charlotte Such as words could never utter; Would you know how first he met her? She was cutting bread and butter.
Sorrows of Werther.
5
Charlotte, having seen his body Borne before her on a shutter, Like a well-conducted person, Went on cutting bread and butter.
Sorrows of Werther.
6
Ho, pretty page, with the dimpled chin That never has known the barber’s shear, All your wish is woman to win, This is the way that boys begin. Wait till you come to Forty Year.
The Age of Wisdom.
7
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.”
A Credo.
8
Remember, it is as easy to marry a rich woman as a poor woman.
Pendennis. Book i. Chap. xxviii.
9
How hard it is to make an Englishman acknowledge that he is happy!
Pendennis. Book ii. Chap. xxxi.
10
’T is strange what a man may do and a woman yet think him an angel.
Henry Esmond. Book i. Chap. vii.



11
The true pleasure of life is to live with your inferiors.
The Newcomes. Book i. Chap. i.
12
The wicked are wicked, no doubt, and they go astray and they fall, and they come by their deserts; but who can tell the mischief which the very virtuous do?
The Newcomes. Book i. Chap. xx.
13
This I set down as a positive truth. A woman with fair opportunities and without a positive hump, may marry whom she likes. 1
Vanity Fair. Chap. iv.
14
Bravery never goes out of fashion.
The Four Georges.

Note 1.
O. W. Holmes: The Professor at the Breakfast Table: I should like to see any kind of a man, distinguishable from a gorilla, that some good and even pretty woman could not shape a husband out of.

Bernard Shaw: Epistle Dedicatory to Man and Superman: The whole world is strewn with snares, traps, gins and pitfalls for the capture of men by women. [back]

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