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William Makepeace Thackeray

6 free books by William Makepeace Thackeray. 6 you can read right here.

Born 1811 in Kolkata · Died 1863 in London

writer, novelist · United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Notable works: Vanity Fair, The Luck of Barry Lyndon

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Facts from Wikidata (Q167768), retrieved 2026-09-26.

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Quotes from William Makepeace Thackeray’s books

Verified word for word in the text: each quote is copied exactly from the book’s text in this site’s reader (the Project Gutenberg e-text named under each book) and links to its passage; when this page was built, every quote was checked word for word against that text. How RedLectern is built.

Vanity Fair

From Project Gutenberg e-text #599 (public domain in the USA).

Great ministers and statesmen courted him; and in Vanity Fair he had a higher place than the most brilliant genius or spotless virtue.

IX. Family PortraitsRead in context →

"Revenge may be wicked, but it's natural," answered Miss Rebecca. "I'm no angel."

— Miss Rebecca · Chapter II

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The History of Pendennis, Volume 2 His Fortunes and Misfortunes, His Friends and His Greatest Enemy

From Project Gutenberg e-text #9904 (public domain in the USA).

As the gambler said of his dice, to love and win is the best thing, to love and lose is the next best.

I. RELATES TO MR. HARRY FOKER'S AFFAIRSRead in context →

The Rose and the Ring

From Project Gutenberg e-text #897 (public domain in the USA).

And the Fairy Blackstick said, ‘Bless you, my darling children! Now you are united and happy; and now you see what I said from the first, that a little misfortune has done you both good.

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