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Out of the fictitious book I get the expression of the life of the time; of the manners, the movement, the dress, the pleasures, the laughter, the ridicules of society—the old times live again, and I travel in the old country of England. Can the heaviest historian do more for me?

— William Makepeace Thackeray

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More quotes by William Makepeace Thackeray

There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen to write.

The History of Henry Esmond (1852)

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

Sketches and Travels in London (1847)

I never know whether to pity or congratulate a man on coming to his senses.

The Virginians (1857)

How hard it is to make an Englishman acknowledge that he is happy!

The History of Pendennis (1848)

It is best to love wisely, no doubt; but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all. Some of us can't: and are proud of our impotence, too.

The History of Pendennis (1848)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Makepeace Thackeray (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.