“Note what the great men admired; they admired great things: narrow spirits admire basely, and worship meanly.”

— William Makepeace Thackeray, The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century (1848), Lecture 4

About William Makepeace Thackeray

1811 – 1863

English novelist, author of "Vanity Fair".

“Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.”

“Dare, and the world always yields: or, if it beat you sometimes, dare again, and it will succumb.”

“Good humour may be said to be one of the very best articles of dress one can wear in society.”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”