400 Quotes by William Makepeace Thackeray

The ladies--Heaven bless them!--are, as a general rule, coquettes from babyhood upwards.

You read the past in some old faces.

Why do they always put mud into coffee on board steamers? Why does the tea generally taste of boiled boots?

I want a sofa, as I want a friend, upon which I can repose familiarly. If you can't have intimate terms and freedom with one and the other, they are of no good.

There is a skeleton in every house.

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.

Who feels injustice, who shrinks before a slight, who has a sense of wrong so acute, and so glowing a gratitude for kindness, as a generous boy?

Presently, we were aware of an odour gradually coming towards us, something musky, fiery, savoury, mysterious, - a hot drowsy smell, that lulls the senses, and yet enflames them, - the truffles were coming.

Next to eating good dinners, a healthy man with a benevolent turn of mind, must like, I think, to read about them.