Known for his sharp satire and insightful portrayal of Victorian life, novelist William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) was born on this day in Calcutta, India.

“A good laugh is sunshine in a house,” he once said—a sentiment that reflected his ability to balance humor with biting social critique.

After the death of his father, Thackeray was sent to school in England. He recalled, “I have the same recollection of Greek in youth that I have of castor oil.”

He traveled widely, met philosopher Johann von Goethe in Germany, and studied art in Paris. A talented journalist and caricaturist, Thackeray rose to fame with his brilliant novel Vanity Fair (1847)—a “novel without a hero” that introduced the unforgettable Becky Sharp, an amoral social climber who confessed, “I think I could be a good woman if I had five thousand a year.”

Through storytelling, Thackeray revealed our human flaws: “foolish and selfish people... all eager after vanities.” Like his contemporary Charles Dickens, he published many of his works as monthly serials, weaving sharp insight with unforgettable characters.

He believed in the heart’s endurance: “To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best,” he wrote. “To endure is greater than to dare. To tire out hostile fortune; to be daunted by no difficulty; to keep heart when all have lost it—who can say this is not greatness?”