Francis Bacon - George Eliot - Richard Brinsley Sheridan - Petrarch - Job 15:31 - Job 35:13 - Psalms 144:4 - Ecclesiastes 1:2 - Ecclesiastes 1:14 - Ecclesiastes 2:11 - Ecclesiastes 4:7 - Ecclesiastes 8:13&14 - Ecclesiastes 12:8 - Jane Austen - Anne Bronte - Gustave Flaubert - Homer - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach - William Shakespeare - Julian Casablancas - Miguel de Cervantes - Karl Lagerfeld - Blaise Pascal - Jonathan Swift - Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Joseph Conrad - Oliver Wendell Holmes - William Wordsworth - Mark Twain - Bertrand Russell - Thomas Hardy - Philip Roth - William Makepeace Thackeray -
To be an artist at all is a form of vanity. Francis Bacon, cited The Art of Francis Bacon
Vanity is as ill at ease under indifference as tenderness is under a love which it cannot return. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda
They talk of avarice, lust, ambition, as great passions. It is a mistake; they are little passions. Vanity is the great commanding passion of all. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
And the fruit of my vanity is shame, and repentance, and the clear knowledge that whatever the world finds pleasing, is but a brief dream. Petrarch
Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompense. Job 15:31
Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it. Job 35:13
Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away. Psalms 144:4
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. Ecclesiastes 1:2
All is vanity and vexation of the spirit. Ecclesiastes 1:14
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. Ecclesiastes 2:11
Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun. Ecclesiastes 4:7
But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity. Ecclesiastes 8:13&14
Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity. Ecclesiastes 12:8
Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us. Jane Austen
I was sorry for her; I was amazed, disgusted at her heartless vanity; I wondered why so much beauty should be given to those who made so bad a use of it, and denied to some who would make it a benefit to both themselves and others.
But, God knows best, I concluded. There are, I suppose, some men as vain, as selfish, and as heartless as she is, and, perhaps, such women may be useful to punish them. Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey
He had the vanity to believe men did not like him – while men simply did not know him. Gustave Flaubert, November
Man is the vainest of all creatures that have their being upon earth. As long as heaven vouchsafes him health and strength, he thinks that he shall come to no harm hereafter, and even when the blessed gods bring sorrow upon him, he bears it as he needs must, and makes the best of it; for God Almighty gives men their daily minds day by day. I know all about it, for I was a rich man once, and did much wrong in the stubbornness of my pride, and in the confidence that my father and my brothers would support me; therefore let a man fear God in all things always, and take the good that heaven may see fit to send him without vainglory. Homer
The market-place, the eager love of gain,
Whose aim is vanity, and whose end is pain! Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Morituri Salutamus st23
We are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don’t care for. Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian novelist
9Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride. William Shakespeare, Henry V V Chorus 20
Thy violent vanities can never last. William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece, 894
Vanity can easily overtake wisdom. It usually overtakes common sense. Julian Casablancas
The knowledge of yourself will preserve you from vanity. Miguel de Cervantes
Vanity is the healthiest thing in life. Karl Lagerfeld
Vanity is but the surface. Blaise Pascal
That something so obvious as the vanity of the world should be so little recognized that people find it odd and surprising to be told that it is foolish to seek greatness; that is most remarkable. Blaise Pascal, Pensées
Vanity is a mark of humility rather than of pride. Jonathan Swift
Or, rather, let us be more simple and less vain. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Vanity plays lurid tricks with our memory. Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, 1900
Vain? Let it be so! Nature was her teacher,
What if a lovely and unsistered creature
Loved her own harmless gift of pleasing feature. Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Professor at the Breakfast Table, 1859
Meek Nature’s evening comment on the shows
That for oblivion take their daily birth
From all the fuming vanities of earth. William Wordsworth, ‘Sky, Prospect from the Plain of France’
There are no grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it. Mark Twain
One of the troubles about vanity is that it grows with what it feeds on. The more you are talked about, the more you will wish to be talked about. Bertrand Russell
If I really seem vain, it is that I am only vain in my ways – not in my heart. The worst women are those vain in their hearts, and not in their ways. Thomas Hardy, A Pair of Blue Eyes
Nor had I understood till then how the shameless vanity of utter fools can so strongly determine the fate of others. Philip Roth, The Plot Against America
All is vanity, nothing is fair. William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair