Quotes from Vanity Fair

Come, children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out.

Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?—come, children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out.

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

The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.

The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind companion; and so let all young persons take their choice.

A woman with fair opportunities, and without a positive hump, may marry whom she likes.

As the manager of the Performance sits before the curtain on the boards and looks into the Fair, a feeling of profound melancholy comes over him in his survey of the bustling place.

I'm no angel.

If people only made prudent marriages, what a stop to population there would be!

Revenge may be wicked, but it's natural.

I am tempted to think that to be despised by her sex is a very great compliment to a woman.

Always to be right, always to trample forward, and never to doubt, are not these the great qualities with which dullness takes the lead in the world?

If a man's character is to be abused, say what you will, there's nobody like a relation to do the business.

There are things we do and know perfectly well in Vanity Fair, though we never speak them.