Quotes about vanity

"Looking at yourself in a mirror isn't exactly a study of life."

Bacall, Lauren on vanity
3 fans of this quote   

"To say that a man is vain means merely that he is pleased with the effect he produces on other people. A conceited man is satisfied with the effect he produces on himself."

Beerbohm, Sir Max on vanity   

"They say that hens do cackle loudest when there is nothing vital in the eggs they have laid."

Bierce, Ambrose on vanity   

"There is nothing so agonizing to the fine skin of vanity as the application of a rough truth."

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G. on vanity   

"The knowledge of yourself will preserve you from vanity."

Cervantes, Miguel De on vanity
5 fans of this quote   

"Vanity is as ill at ease under indifference as tenderness is under a love which it cannot return."

Eliot, George on vanity   

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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."

Franklin, Benjamin on vanity   

"Man that is of woman born is apt to be as vain has his mother."

Frost, Robert on vanity   

"The vanity of loving fine clothes and new fashion, and placing value on ourselves by them is one of the most childish pieces of folly."

Hale, Sir Matthew on vanity   

"If there is a single quality that is shared by all great men, it is vanity. But I mean by vanity only that they appreciate their own worth. Without this kind of vanity they would not be great. And with vanity alone, of course, a man is nothing."

Karsh, Yousef on vanity   

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

La Rochefoucauld, Francois De on vanity   

"Throughout the centuries, man has considered himself beautiful. I rather suppose that man only believes in his own beauty out of pride; that he is not really beautiful and he suspects this himself; for why does he look on the face of his fellow-man with such scorn?"

Lautreamont, Isidore Ducasse, Comte De on vanity   

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

Murdoch, Iris on vanity
4 fans of this quote   

"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!"

Nietzsche, Friedrich on vanity   

"Never underestimate a man who overestimates himself."

Roosevelt, Franklin D. on vanity
9 fans of this quote   

"The common practice of keeping up appearances with society is a mere selfish struggle of the vain with the vain."

Ruskin, John on vanity
5 fans of this quote   

"There was never yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass."

Shakespeare, William on vanity   

"Vanity is a vital aid to nature: completely and absolutely necessary to life. It is one of nature's ways to bind you to the earth."

Smart, Elizabeth on vanity   

"The vanity of men, a constant insult to women, is also the ground for the implicit feminine claim of superior sensitivity and morality."

Spacks, Patricia Meyer on vanity   

"Our vanity is the constant enemy of our dignity."

Swetchine, Anne Sophie on vanity   

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

Swift, Jonathan on vanity   

"There are no grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it."

Twain, Mark on vanity   

"Cure yourself of the affliction of caring how you appear to others. Concern yourself only with how you appear before God, concern yourself only with the idea that God may have of you."

Unamuno, Miguel De on vanity   

"A narcissist is someone better looking than you are."

Vidal, Gore on vanity
4 fans of this quote   

"Our eternity is not real; it resembles us; it is our own invention; its scent is vanity. "

Stojanovic, Dejan on vanity