William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) was a great Victorian novelist whose central literary theme was the expansion of human sympathy.
Born in Calcutta, British India, as the only son of a distinguished member of the India civil service, Thackeray was brought up in luxury reminiscent of a young prince. He was sent to England for his schooling at age five. He attended Cambridge, but left without graduating, after losing some of his inheritance through gambling and business failure. His Indian upbringing and his public school experience feature prominently in The Newcomes (1853–55.)
In 1848, after a long and often disappointing exploration for a profession and a literary voice, Thackeray’s definite breakthrough came with his serialized novel, Vanity Fair (1847–48.) This classic novel about the rise and fall of an Irish adventurer, set at the time of Waterloo and its aftermath, was a satire of the English upper middle class of early 19th-century society.
Thackeray spent his last decade as a literary celebrity and the editor of the Cornhill magazine.
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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
Topics: Greatness
There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen to write.
—William Makepeace Thackeray
Topics: Authors & Writing, Writing
Life is the soul’s nursery – its training place for the destinies of eternity.
—William Makepeace Thackeray
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
Topics: Courage, Risk
To endure is greater than to dare; to tire out hostile fortune; to be daunted by no difficulty; to keep heart when all have lost it; to go through intrigue spotless; to forego even ambition when the end is gained — who can say this is not greatness?
—William Makepeace Thackeray
Topics: Perseverance, Greatness & Great Things, Patience
Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.
—William Makepeace Thackeray
Topics: Mothers Day, Mothers, Mother
Those who forgets their friends to follow those of a higher status are truly snobs.
—William Makepeace Thackeray
Topics: Friends and Friendship
Bravery never goes out of style.
—William Makepeace Thackeray
Topics: Courage
I never knew a man of letters ashamed of his profession.
—William Makepeace Thackeray
Topics: Literature
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