“ None but men of courage and genius could live and prosper in a society where every one was bold and clever ”
William Makepeace Thackeray, The Luck of Barry Lyndon (1844). copy citation
| Author | William Makepeace Thackeray |
|---|---|
| Source | The Luck of Barry Lyndon |
| Topic | courage society |
| Date | 1844 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4558/pg4558-images.html |
Context
“and I don’t believe there was an officer in any one of the guard regiments but had his cards in his pouch, and no more forgot his dice than his sword-knot. Among such fellows it was diamond cut diamond. What you call fair play would have been a folly. The gentlemen of Ballybarry would have been fools indeed to appear as pigeons in such a hawk’s nest. None but men of courage and genius could live and prosper in a society where every one was bold and clever; and here my uncle and I held our own: ay, and more than our own.
His Highness the Duke was a widower, or rather, since the death of the reigning Duchess, had contracted a morganatic marriage with a lady whom he had ennobled, and who considered it a compliment”
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