The Bible
Old Testament: Ecclesiastes ch. 1 v.2
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
Heine Heinrich 1797-1856
It must require an inordinate share of vanity and presumption after enjoying so much that is good and beautiful on earth, to ask the Lord for immortality in addition to it all.
Johnson Samuel 1709-1784
The Rambler
No place affords a more striking conviction of the
vanity of human hopes, than a public library.
Jonson Ben c.1573-1637
Every Man out His Humour
My strict hand
Was made to seize on vice, and with a gripe
Squeeze out the humour of such spongy souls,
As lick up every idle vanity.
La Rouchefoucauld François Duc de 1613-1680
Generosity is the vanity of giving.
La Rouchefoucauld François Duc de 1613-1680
Maxims
Flattery is false coin that is only current thanks to our vanity.
Landor Walter Savage 1775-1864
A man's vanity tells him what is honour; a man's consience what is justice.
Milton John 1608-1674
‘On the Morning of Christ's Nativity'
For if such holy song
Enwrap our fancy long,
Time will run back, and fetch the age of gold,
And speckled vanity
Will sicken soon and die.
Moore Thomas 1779-1852
The Fudge Family in Paris
I may, without vanity, hint -
Though an angel should write, still ´tis devils must print.
Parris Matthew 1949-
Being an MP feeds your vanity and starves your self respect.
Smith Logan Pearsall 1865-1946
Every author, however modest, keeps a most outrageous vanity chained like a madman in the padded cell of his breast.
