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.
...my heart may have been in it but my soul was not.
the last cigarettes are smoked, the loaves are sliced, and lest this be taken for wry sorrow, drown the spider in wine. you are much more than simply dead: I am a dish for your ashes, I am a fist for your vanished air. the most terrible thing about life is finding it gone.
And life goes on, which seems kind of strange and cruel when you're watching someone die. But there's a joy and an abundance of everything, like information and laughter and summer weather and so many stories.
I was born in London in England in 1934. I went through, as a child, the horrors of World War II, through a time when food was rationed and we learned to be very careful, and we never had more to eat than what we needed to eat. There was no waste. Everything was used.
The only realities in life are that you are born, and that you die. We always think we are going to live forever. The dying aspect we will never accept. The one thing about having this kind of warning is how you appreciate every single day of life.
At the core of life is a hard purposefulness, a determination to live.
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