“Next to the very young, I suppose the very old are the most selfish.”

—  William Makepeace Thackeray , book The Virginians

Source: The Virginians (1857-1859), Ch. 61.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Next to the very young, I suppose the very old are the most selfish." by William Makepeace Thackeray?
William Makepeace Thackeray photo
William Makepeace Thackeray 69
novelist 1811–1863

Related quotes

Jerry Brown photo

“Jerry is perceived by most legislators as very selfish.”

Jerry Brown (1938) American politician/lawyer and current governor of California

Leo McCarthy, former Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the California State Assembly, United Press International, unspecified article, unspecified date, 1978.

Nora Roberts photo

“The very young and the very old often saw what others could not. Or would not.”

Nora Roberts (1950) American romance writer

Source: Valley of Silence

Erik Satie photo

“Study for a bust of Mr Erik Satie painted by himself, with a thought: I came into the world very young in an age that was very old.”

Erik Satie (1866–1925) French composer and pianist

Étude pour un buste de M. Erik SATIE peint par lui-même, avec une pensée: je suis venu au monde très jeune dans un temps très vieux.
Written to accompany a self-portrait caricature drawn by himself - see image
General quotes

Thomas Hood photo

“Spurned by the young, but hugged by the old
To the very verge of the churchyard mould.”

Thomas Hood (1799–1845) British writer

Her Moral; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
20th century

Anthony Trollope photo

“Speeches easy to young speakers are generally very difficult to old listeners.”

Anthony Trollope book The Duke's Children

Source: The Duke's Children (1879), Ch. 56

Pearl S. Buck photo

“Now, five years is nothing in a man's life except when he is very young and very old…

- Wang Lung”

Pearl S. Buck book The Good Earth

Source: The Good Earth

Zadie Smith photo

“I am very selfish, really. I lived for love.”

Zadie Smith On Beauty

Source: On Beauty

Lionel Messi photo

“My first memories are from when I was very little, maybe three or four years old playing in my neighbourhood at home. I can picture myself with the ball at my feet from a very young age.”

Lionel Messi (1987) Argentine association football player
Stephen Chbosky photo

“Old pictures look very rugged and young, and the people in the photographs always seem a lot happier than you are.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

George Orwell photo

“Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on balance life is suffering, and only the very young or the very foolish imagine otherwise.”

George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist

"Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool," Polemic (March 1947)
Context: A normal human being does not want the Kingdom of Heaven: he wants life on earth to continue. This is not solely because he is "weak," "sinful" and anxious for a "good time." Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on balance life is suffering, and only the very young or the very foolish imagine otherwise. Ultimately it is the Christian attitude which is self-interested and hedonistic, since the aim is always to get away from the painful struggle of earthly life and find eternal peace in some kind of Heaven or Nirvana. The humanist attitude is that the struggle must continue and that death is the price of life.

Related topics