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
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.
In practice
In a motivational speech about positivity.
There are many sham diamonds in this life which pass for real, and vice versa.
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.
When you look at me, when you think of me, I am in paradise.
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!
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.
The moral world has no particular objection to vice, but an insuperable repugnance to hearing vice called by its proper name.
I basically have my life today as a result of what I did as a child. What did I miss out on? Yeah, I missed not hanging out at shopping malls, I guess, but that is not a big deal because you don't get a medal for that.
(on grief) And you do come out of it, thatβs true. After a year, after five. But you donβt come out of it like a train coming out of a tunnel, bursting through the downs into sunshine and that swift, rattling descent to the Channel; you come out of it as a gull comes out of an oil-slick. You are tarred and feathered for life.
What do you do when life blindfolds you and spins you around? We think it's our fault, that we're to blame, when really we should be focused on being gentle with ourselves.
Almost all men are over anxious. No sooner do they enter the world than they lose that taste for natural and simple pleasures so remarkable in early life. Every hour do they ask themselves what progress they have made in the pursuit of wealth or honor and on they go as their fathers went before them till weary and sick at heart they look back with a sigh of regret to the golden time of their childhood.
Live well, learn plenty, laugh often, love much.
All of us have moments in our childhood where we come alive for the first time. And we go back to those moments and think, This is when I became myself.
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