Vain Quotes - Page 9

• Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.

  John Milton

  Wisdom, Philosophy, Paradise Lost Book 2

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 2, l. 562

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• If one is too lazy to think, too vain to do a thing badly, too cowardly to admit it, one will never attain wisdom.

  Cyril Connolly

  Wisdom, Thinking, Lazy

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• How vain are our fears! I thought to myself. Sometimes we fear that which our opponent (or fate) had never even considered! After this, then, is it any longer worthwhile to rack one's brain to find new ghosts to fear? No, indeed: All hail optimism! - upon playing Hermanis Mattison after he overlooked an unusual knight manouevre.

  Aron Nimzowitsch

  Fate, Knights, Optimism

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• Who o'er the herd would wish to reign, Fantastic, fickle, fierce, and vain! Vain as the leaf upon the stream, And fickle as a changeful dream; Fantastic as a woman's mood, And fierce as Frenzy's fever'd blood. Thou many-headed monster thing, Oh who would wish to be thy king!

  Walter Scott

  Dream, Kings, Blood

  Walter Scott (1869). “Poetical Works: Complete in One Volume with All His Introd. and Notes”, p.220

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• It is in vain to dream of a wildness distant from ourselves. There is none such. It is the bog in our brains and bowels, the primitive vigor of Nature in us, that inspires that dream. I shall never find in the wilds of Labrador a greater wildness than in some recess of Concord.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Dream, Nature, Inspire

  David R. Foster, Henry David Thoreau (2009). “Thoreau's Country: Journey through a Transformed Landscape”, p.5, Harvard University Press

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• But if you do not have the Tao yourself, what business have you spending your time in vain efforts to bring corrupt politicians into the right path?

  Confucius

  Business, Effort, Taoism

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• Men are vain; but they won't mind women working so long as they get smaller wages for the same job.

  Irvin S. Cobb

  Jobs, Work, Men

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• Seeing the lightest and gayest purple was then most in fashion, he would always wear that which was the nearest black; and he would often go out of doors, after his morning meal, without either shoes or tunic; not that he sought vain-glory from such novelties, but he would accustom himself to be ashamed only of what deserves shame, and to despise all other sorts of disgrace.

  Plutarch

  Fashion, Morning, Doors

  Plutarch (2011). “Plutarch's Lives”, p.528, Bantam

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• People compose the schedules they do out of the priorities they have; and someone who says otherwise is deceiving himself about what he really values. The same thing applies to money that applies to time. I make a practice of watching what people do, never what they say. Whatever is important, to anyone sane, he will make a place for it; people live out their values. Values are different in this respect from "ideals," which are typically vain and effete and thus exist mostly for the sake of promoting self-delusions.

  Kenny Smith

  Time, Philosophy, Self

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• The soul is made for action, and cannot rest till it be employed. Idleness is its rust. Unless it will up and think and taste and see, all is in vain.

  Thomas Traherne

  Success, Thinking, Soul

  Thomas Traherne (2010). “Centuries of Meditations”, p.299, Cosimo, Inc.

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• This preparatory sort of idealism is the one that, as I just suggested, Berkeley made prominent, and, after a fashion familiar. I must state it in my own way, although one in vain seeks to attain novelty in illustrating so frequently described a view.

  Josiah Royce

  Fashion, Views, Swag

  Josiah Royce (1900). “The Spirit of Modern Philosophy: An Essay in the Form of Lectures”, p.351, Courier Corporation

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• How you speak and the words you use tell much about the image you choose to portray. Use language to build and uplift those around you. Profane, vulgar, or crude language and inappropriate or off-color jokes are offensive to the Lord. Never misuse the name of God or Jesus Christ. The Lord said, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" (Ex. 20:7).

  Thomas S. Monson

  Uplifting, Jesus, Color

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• Because just as arms have no force outside if there is no counsel within a house, study is vain and counsel useless that is not put to virtuous effect when the time calls.

  Francois Rabelais

  House, Useless, Arms

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• You're so vain. I bet you think this song is about you.

  Carly Simon

  Song, Thinking, Popular Song

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• All affectation is the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty to appear rich

  Johann Kaspar Lavater

  Poverty, Ridiculous, Rich

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• I scarce ever heard or saw the introductory words, "Without vanity I may say," etc., but some vain thing immediately followed.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Vanity, May, Speech

  Benjamin Franklin (2006). “The Portable Benjamin Franklin”, p.11, Penguin

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• Children have very little voice, and the coroner's inquest is about Luke's voice, and making sure Luke is heard and respected and honoured. I don't want him to have died in vain.

  Rosie Batty

  Children, Voice, Domestic Violence

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• There's always time. . .to own up to things you're ashamed of, to change them. There's always time to start. And I think the starting is the most important thing. It takes courage. It takes a lot more courage than any vain feat of arms, let me tell you. It takes a lifetime to become a fool, and only a moment to begin to become wise.

  Peter Danielson

  Wise, Courage, Thinking

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• Society is now really ruled by its own logos; say rather by a whole pantheon of its own hypostases and powers... we are beginning to suspect that the idols are vain, but their demonic influence upon our lives is not thereby allayed. For it is one thing to entertain critical doubts regarding the god of this world, and another thing to perceive the dunamis, the meaning and might of the living God who is building a new world.

  Karl Barth

  Idols, Doubt, World

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• The idea of Kanye and vanity are like, synonymous. But I've put myself in a lot of places where a vain person wouldn't put themselves in. Like what's vanity about wearing a kilt?

  Kanye West

  Vanity, Ideas, Kilts

  "Will Kid Cudi's Coachella crop top start a new hip-hop fashion trend?" by Nadeska Alexis, www.mtv.com. April 14, 2014.

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• Man is always inclined to regard the small circle in which he lives as the center of the world and to make his particular, private life the standard of the universe and to make his particular, private life the standard of the universe. But he must give up this vain pretense, this petty provincial way of thinking and judging.

  Ernst Cassirer

  Giving Up, Men, Thinking

  Ernst Cassirer, Yale University. Louis Stern Memorial Fund (1944). “An Essay on Man: An Introduction to a Philosophy of Human Culture”, New Haven : Yale University Press ; London : H. Milford, Oxford University Press

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• If there is no free speech, every single life has lived in vain

  Ai Weiwei

  Single Life, Speech, Ifs

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• Don’t be vain because you happen to have talent. You are not responsible for that; it was not of your doing. What you do with your talent is what matters.

  Pablo Casals

  What Matters, Talent, Responsible

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• And I never believed that the multitude / of dreams and many words were vain.

  Li-Young Lee

  Dream, Multitudes

  Li-Young Lee (1990). “The City in which I Love You: Poems”, p.57, BOA Editions, Ltd.

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• Rain which falls upon the sea is useless; so is food for one who is satiated; in vain is a gift for one who is wealthy; and a burning lamp during the daytime is useless.

  Chanakya

  Rain, Fall, Sea

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