Vanity Quotes - Page 4

• Vanity is truly the motive power that moves humanity, and it is flattery that greases the wheels.

  St. Jerome

  Moving, Humanity, Grease

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• A vain man can never be altogether rude. Desirous as he is of pleasing, he fashions his manners after those of others.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Fashion, Men, Rude

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1853). “Goethe's Opinions on the World, Mankind, Literature, Science, and Art”, p.48

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• There is more jealousy between rival wits than rival beauties, for vanity has no sex. But in both cases there must be pretensions, or there will be no jealousy.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Sex, Rivals, Cases

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.110

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• We speak little if not egged on by vanity.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Littles, Speak, Ifs

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• Since the time of the cavemen, man has glorified himself, has made himself divine, and his monstrous vanity has caused human catastrophe. Art has collaborated in this false development. I find this concept of art which has sustained man's vanity to be loathsome.

  Hans Arp

  Art, Men, Divine

  "Jours effeuillés: Poèmes, essaies, souvenirs". Book by Hans Arp, p. 315, 1966.

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• In old age the consolation of hope is reserved for the tenderness of parents, who commence a new life in their children, the faith of enthusiasts, who sing hallelujahs above the clouds; and the vanity of authors, who presume the immortality of their name and writings.

  Edward Gibbon

  Hope, Children, Writing

  Edward Gibbon (1827). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Edward Gibbon, 1”, p.258

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• I guess it really is just me, myself and all my millions.

  Drake

  Money, Humble, Conceited

  Song: Headlines, Album: Take Care, 2011

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• To all those whose progress remains hampered by ego-related distractions, let humility - the spiritual cornerstone upon which Karate rests - serve to remind one to place virtue before vice, values before vanity and principles before personalities.

  Matsumura Sokon

  Spiritual, Art, Humility

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• ... the passion for popularity brings such injury upon those it masters that it shipwrecks faith itself. Our Lord confirms this when He says, 'How can you have faith in Me when you receive honour from one another and do not seek for the honour that comes from the only God?' (cf. Jn. 5:44).

  Gregory Palamas

  God, Faith, Christian

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• The whole business is built on ego, vanity, self-satisfaction, and it's total crap to pretend it's not.

  George Michael

  Business, Self, Ego

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• Vanity is a mark of humility rather than of pride.

  Jonathan Swift

  Humility, Pride, Literature

  Jonathan Swift, Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols (1808). “Works”, p.443

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• It beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where 't is kept is lighter than vanity.

  John Bunyan

  Names, Towns, Pilgrims Progress

  "The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come (Part I)". Book by John Bunyan, 1678.

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• Vanity, indeed, is the very antidote to conceit; for while the former makes us all nerve to the opinion of others, the latter is perfectly satisfied with its opinion of itself.

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

  Nerves, Opinion, Conceit

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• There is nothing which vanity does not desecrate.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Doe

  Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

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• What is the vanity of the vainest man compared with the vanity which the most modest possesses when, in the midst of nature and the world, he feels himself to be man!

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Men, World, Midst

  Friedrich Nietzsche, R. J. Hollingdale (1996). “Nietzsche: Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits”, p.386, Cambridge University Press

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• It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.

  Mark Twain

  Nature, Animal, Men

  Mark Twain (2009). “Mark Twain’s Book of Animals”, p.304, Univ of California Press

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• How vain, without the merit, is the name.

  Homer

  Names, Literature, Merit

  Homer (1909). “The Iliad of Homer”, p.391

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• Utility is the great idol of the age, to which all powers must do service and all talents swear allegiance. In this great balance of utility, the spiritual service of art has no weight, and, deprived of all encouragement, it vanishes from the noisy Vanity Fair of our time.

  Friedrich Schiller

  Spiritual, Encouragement, Art

  "Literary and philosophical essays: French, German, and Italian", Collier, Volume 32, sourcebooks.fordham.edu. 1910.

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• Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves.

  Benjamin Franklin

  People, Share, Dislike

  Benjamin Franklin, William-Temple Franklin (1818). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818”, p.2

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• Oh, the cares of men! how much emptiness there is in human concerns!

  Aulus Persius Flaccus

  Men, Care, Emptiness

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• Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter, wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others who are within his sphere of action: and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Men, People, Giving

  Benjamin Franklin, William-Temple Franklin (1818). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818”, p.2

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• If I was lying on my deathbed and I had kept this secret and never ever did anything about it, I would be lying there saying, 'You just blew your entire life.'

  Bruce Jenner

  Lying, Secret, Would Be

  "Caitlyn Jenner: The Full Story" By Buzz Bissinger, www.vanityfair.com. July 2015.

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• The English are predisposed to pride, the French to vanity.

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  Pride, Nationalism

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• It seems to me that, in every culture, I come across a chapter headed 'Wisdom.' And then I know exactly what is going to follow: 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.'

  Ludwig Wittgenstein

  Wisdom, Culture, Chapters

  Conversation in 1934. "Ludwig Wittgenstein: Personal Recollections". Book by Rush Rhees, 1981.

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• There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.

  Eric Hoffer

  Self Esteem, Humility, Practice

  Eric Hoffer (2011). “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements”, p.15, Harper Collins

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