There are many sham diamonds in this life which pass for real, and vice versa.
William Makepeace ThackerayRead
Life is a mirror: if you frown at it, it frowns back; if you smile, it returns the greeting.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our attitude towards life shapes our experiences.
This quote by William Makepeace Thackeray suggests that life reflects our feelings and attitudes back to us. When we approach life with negativity or a frown, we may encounter similar negativity; conversely, when we adopt a positive attitude and smile, we invite good experiences and positivity in return. It highlights the importance of maintaining a hopeful and positive outlook, as our interactions and the world around us often mirror our internal state.
Themes
LifeAttitudePositivityReflectionSmileFrown
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about positivity.
More from William Makepeace Thackeray
All quotes →There's a great power of imagination about these little creatures, and a creative fancy and belief that is very curious to watch . . . I am sure that horrid matter-of-fact child-rearers . . . do away with the child's most beautiful privilege. I am determined that Anny shall have a very extensive and instructive store of learning in Tom Thumbs, Jack-the-Giant-Killers, etc.
William Makepeace ThackerayRead
When you look at me, when you think of me, I am in paradise.
William Makepeace ThackerayRead
And in those varieties of pain of which we spoke anon, what a part of confidante has that poor teapot played ever since the kindly plant was introduced among us! What myriads of women have cried over it, to be sure! What sickbeds it has smoked by! What fevered lips have received refreshment from out of it! Nature meant very gently by women when she made that teaplant; and with a little thought what a series of pictures and groups the fancy may conjure up and assemble round the teapot and cup!
William Makepeace ThackerayRead
The play is done; the curtain drops,_x000D_ _x000D_ Slow falling to the prompter's bell_x000D_ _x000D_ A moment yet the actor stops_x000D_ _x000D_ And looks around to say farewell.
William Makepeace ThackerayRead
The moral world has no particular objection to vice, but an insuperable repugnance to hearing vice called by its proper name.
William Makepeace ThackerayRead
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Live for yourself and you will live in vain; Live for others, and you will live again.
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That the sum of a man's life was not where he wound up but in the details that brought him there. That we made mistakes. I closed my eyes, sick of the riddles, and to my surprise all I could see were dandelions-as if they had been painted on the fields of my imagination, a hundred thousand suns. And I remembered something else that makes us human: faith, the only weapon in our arsenal to battle doubt.
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