Vanity Quotations | Page 4

We’ve been devastated by the severest and deadliest drought in history – that of our profound awareness of the futility of all effort and the vanity of all plans.

While you are still beautiful and life still woos, it is such a fine gesture of disdainful pride to jilt it.

If a person is to get the meaning of life he must learn to like the facts about himself -- ugly as they may seem to his sentimental vanity -- before he can learn the truth behind the facts. And the truth is never ugly.

Too much is a vanity; enough is a feast.

I should have been, I don't know, a con-man, a robber or a prostitute. But it was vanity that made me choose painting, vanity and chance.

There is no such flatterer as is a man's self.

Vain-glorious men are the scorn of the wise, the admiration of fools, the idols of paradise, and the slaves of their own vaunts.

Such is the way of all superstition, whether in astrology, dreams, omens, divine judgments, or the like; wherein men, having a delight in such vanities, mark the events where they are fulfilled, but where they fail, though this happen much oftener.

I was good at being charming, one of my very few vanities.

I don't really lift weights. It's kind of a vanity thing that I don't get into.

Nature has cast but two men in the mould of statesmen,--myself and Mirabeau. After that she broke the mould.

Vanity is the quicksand of reason.

Vanity is the most despotic and iniquitous of masters, and I can never be the slave of my own vices.

Ambition is only vanity ennobled.

All is vanity and everybody's vain. Women are terribly vain. So are men - more so, if possible.

There's a way of filming where you can get rid of the vanity and of trying to make something beautiful.

Lois and Alexander are by far the most beautiful creatures in the class; their beauty is like the beauty of plants, seemingly untroubled by vanity, anxiety or effort.

It's always our touches of vanity that manage to betray us.

Instead of idleness, vanity, or an intellect formed by the spoon-feeding of others, my girls have acquired energy, industry, and independence.

Blind self-love, vanity, lifting aloft her empty head, and indiscretion, prodigal of secrets more transparent than glass, follow close behind.

Surely in much talk there cannot choose but be much vanity. Loquacity is the fistula of the mind,--ever-running and almost incurable, let every man, therefore, be a Phocion or Pythagorean, to speak briefly to the point or not at all; let him labor like them of Crete, to show more wit in his discourse than words, and not to pour out of his mouth a flood of the one, when he can hardly wring out of his brains a drop of the other.

The late John Jacob Astor, a personage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation in pronouncing my first grand point to be prudence; my next, method. I do not speak it in vanity, but simply record the fact, that I was not unemployed in my profession by the late John Jacob Astor; a name which, I admit, I love to repeat, for it hath a rounded and orbicular sound to it, and rings like unto bullion. I will freely add, that I was not insensible to the late John Jacob Astor's good opinion.

A man who is not a fool can rid himself of every folly except vanity.

If all were perfect Christians, individuals would do their duty; the people would be obedient to the laws, the magistrates incorrupt, and there would be neither vanity nor luxury in such a state.

Provided a man is not mad, he can be cured of every folly but vanity.

There is no folly of which a man who is not a fool cannot get rid except vanity; of this nothing cures a man except experience of its bad consequences, if indeed anything can cure it.

Or, rather, let us be more simple and less vain.

Provided a man is not mad, he can be cured of every folly but vanity; there is no cure for this but experience, if indeed there is any cure for it at all.

Vanity is a strong temptation to lying; it makes people magnify their merit, over flourish their family, and tell strange stories of their interest and acquaintance.

Flattery is an ensnaring quality, and leaves a very dangerous impression. It swells a man's imagination, entertains his vanity, and drives him to a doting upon his own person.

Every actress has to face the facts there are younger, more beautiful girls right behind you. Once you've gone beyond the vanity of the business, you'll take on the tough roles.

If you have to tell them who you are, you aren't anybody.

I am sensible that my keenness of temper, and a vanity to be distinguished for the day, make me too often splash in life.... I amresolved to restrain myself and attend more to decorum.

Vanity is a static thing. It puts it faith in what it has, and is easily wounded. Pride is active, and satisfied only with what it can do, hence accustomed not to feel small stings.

The happy story right now is the full page in Vanity Fair, which gives me a great deal of exposure.

I have this theory that people in Hollywood don't read. They read 'Vanity Fair' and then consider themselves terribly well read. I think I can basically write about anybody without getting caught.

To be beneficent when we can is a duty; and besides this, there are many minds so sympathetically constituted that, without any other motive of vanity or self-interest, they find a pleasure in spreading joy around them, and can take delight in the satisfaction of others so far as it is their own work. But I maintain that in such a case an action of this kind, however proper, however amiable it may be, has nevertheless no true moral worth, but is on a level with other inclinations. . . . For the maxim lacks the moral import, namely, that such actions be done from duty, not from inclination.

The evil effect of science upon men is principally this, that by far the greatest number of those who wish to display a knowledge of it accomplish no improvement at all of the understanding, but only a perversity of it, not to mention that it serves most of them as a tool of vanity.

One cannot avoid a certain feeling of disgust, when one observes the actions of man displayed on the great stage of the world. Wisdom is manifested by individuals here and there; but the web of human history as a whole appears to be woven from folly and childish vanity, often, too, from puerile wickedness and love of destruction: with the result that at the end one is puzzled to know what idea to form of our species which prides itself so much on its advantages.

Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay.

That which makes the vanity of others unbearable to us is that which wounds our own.

Generosity is the vanity of giving.

The most violent passions sometimes leave us at rest, but vanity agitates us constantly.

Whatever pretext we may give for our affections, often it is only interest and vanity which cause them.

We speak little if not egged on by vanity.

If vanity does not entirely overthrow the virtues, at least it makes them all totter.

What is called liberality is often merely the vanity of giving.

What makes vanity so insufferable to us, is that it hurts our own.

Flattery is a counterfeit money which, but for vanity, would have no circulation.

What renders other people's vanity insufferable is that it wounds our own.

People are more slanderous from vanity than from malice.

Flattery is a base coin which is current only through our vanity.

Vanity, shame, and above all disposition, often make men brave and women chaste.

The exceeding delight we take in talking about ourselves should give us cause to fear that we are giving but very little pleasureto our listeners.

Virtue would not make such advances if there were not a little vanity to keep it company.

Whatever pretended causes we may blame our afflictions upon, it is often nothing but self-interest and vanity that produce them.

The judgments our enemies make about us come nearer to the truth than those we make about ourselves.

We often brag that we are never bored with ourselves, and are so vain as never to think ourselves bad company.

The courage of a great many men, and the virtue of a great many women, are the effect of vanity, shame, and especially a suitabletemperament.

The most effectual way to be deceived is to believe oneself more cunning than one's neighbors.

The love of new acquaintance comes not so much from being weary of what we had before, or from any satisfaction there is in change, as from the distaste we feel in being too little admired by those that know us too well, and the hope of being more admired by those that know us less.

Those whom the world has delighted to honor have oftener been influenced in their doings by ambition and vanity than by patriotism.

Penetration has an air of divination; it pleases our vanity more than any other quality of the mind.

Flattery is false money, which would not be current were it not for our vanity.

Clemency, which we make a virtue of, proceeds sometimes from vanity, sometimes from indolence, often from fear, and almost always from a mixture of all three.

Thy pride is but the prologue of thy shame; where vain-glory commands, there folly counsels; where pride rides, there shame lackeys.

Every man's vanity ought to be his greatest shame; and every man's folly ought to be his greatest secret.

One thing House needs Wilson for is vanity. He needs someone to laugh at his jokes.

It is difficult to divest one's self of vanity; because impossible to divest one's self of self-love.

'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall see God' suggested to me a heavenly welfare program for the meek. Today that saying reveals an astute insight into egotism, about how those with swollen pride or vanity cannot see anything larger than themselves.

Love based upon money and vanity forms the most stubborn of passions.

A man's own vanity is a swindler that never lacks for a dupe.

Possibly, more people kill themselves and others out of hurt vanity than out of envy, jealousy, malice or desire for revenge.

The sin of pride may be a small or a great thing in someone's life, and hurt vanity a passing pinprick, or a self-destroying or ever murderous obsession.

Sharing holiday snaps on social media is an act of arrogant vanity.

Never permit yourself to indulge in cheap flattery, which often times means to merely satisfy the individuals vanity and sometimes to ingratiate the flatter into the good graces of the flattered.

Vanity, thy name is vampire.

False modesty is the refinement of vanity. It is a lie.

A vain man finds his account in speaking good or evil of himself.

False glory is the rock of vanity; it seduces men to affect esteem by things which they indeed possess, but which are frivolous, and which for a man to value himself on would be a scandalous error.

Men blush less for their crimes than for their weaknesses and vanity. [Fr., Les hommes rougissent moins de leur crimes que de leurs faiblesses et de leur vanite.]

Discourtesy does not spring merely from one bad quality, but from several--from foolish vanity, from ignorance of what is due to others, from indolence, from stupidity, from distraction of thought, from contempt of others, from jealousy.

There is a false modesty, which is vanity; a false glory, which is levity; a false grandeur, which is meanness; a false virtue, which is hypocrisy, and a false wisdom, which is prudery.

Incivility is not a Vice of the Soul, but the effect of several Vices; of Vanity, Ignorance of Duty, Laziness, Stupidity, Distraction, Contempt of others, and Jealousy.

My vanity and narcissism will never let me go too far.

We value the devotedness of friendship rather as an oblation to vanity than as a free interchange of hearts; an endearing contract of sympathy, mutual forbearance, and respect!

Is there any vanity greater than the vanity of those who believe themselves without it?

It would be next to impossible to discover a handsome woman who was not also a vain woman.

Herein is not only a great vanity, but a great contempt of God's good gifts, that the sweetness of man's breath, being a good gift of God, should be willfully corrupted by this stinking smoke.

I'm not sure if guys are supposed to read Vanity Fair. I feel very metrosexual with it but am not sure it's in my comfort zone.

Vanity is a silly thing to be obsessed with because... it sounds cliché but it leads you to emptiness; it goes away.

Vanity is becoming a nuisance, I can see why women give it up, eventually. But I'm not ready for that yet.

What fervent love of herself would Virtue excite if she could be seen!

The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There enough women are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.

moral vanity is the snare of good people.

I want to tell you a story. I have no other vanity.

O vanity! you are the lever by means of which Archimedes wished to lift the earth!

God gave us laughter, I think, as a balm to wash the wounds of our own blunders, as a splint to mend the bones we break in our rashness or vanity.

Beauty is a great gift of heaven; not for the purpose of female vanity, but a great gift for one who loves, and wishes to be beloved.

Man habitually sacrifices his life to his purse, but he sacrifices his purse to his vanity.