best quotations about
Vanity |
and Conceit, Arrogance
| 69 quotes | Visits: 15,526 |
Quotations
 | Those who wish to appear wise among fools, they seem foolish among the wise. — Quintilian, 35-96 AD, Roman rhetorician 24 likes |
 | Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it. — George Orwell, 1903-1950, British writer 15 likes |
 | Curiosity is only vanity. We usually only want to know something so that we can talk about it. — Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662, French thinker 9 likes |
 | The desire to appear clever often prevents one from being so. — La Rochefoucauld, 1613-1680, French writer 9 likes |
 | We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever. — Carl Sagan, 1934-1996, American astronomer 9 likes |
| The truest way to be deceived is to think oneself more smart than others. — La Rochefoucauld, 1613-1680, French writer 9 likes |
 | Marriage is the operation by which a woman’s vanity and a man’s egotism are extracted without anaesthetic. — Helen Rowland, 1875-1950, American journalist & humorist 8 likes |
 | The modern mentality is the child of human vanity puffed up by commercial advertising. — Nicolas Gomez Davila, 1913-1994, Colombian writer 7 likes |
 | The need to be always right is the sign of a vulgar mind. — Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French writer, Nobel 1957 7 likes |
 | The highest form of vanity is love of fame. — George Santayana, 1863-1952, Spanish-American philosopher 6 likes |
 | A woman’s vanity is interested in making the object of her choice the god of her idolatry. — William Hazlitt , 1778-1830, English essayist & critic 6 likes |
 | Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose. — Bill Gates, 1955-, American businessman 6 likes |
 | I will give you a definition of a proud man: he is a man who has neither vanity nor wisdom; one filled with hatreds cannot be vain, neither can he be wise. — John Keats, 1795-1821, English poet 6 likes |
 | A narcissist is someone better looking than you are. — Gore Vidal, 1925-2012, American writer 5 likes |
 | I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train. — Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish writer 4 likes |
 | What would happen to the power of women if it were not for the vanity of men? — Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, 1830-1916, German author of maxims 4 likes |
 | A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the smaller the fraction. — Leo Tolstoy, 1828–1910, Russian writer 4 likes |
 | It seems to me that, in every culture, I come across a chapter headed Wisdom. And then I know exactly what is going to follow: Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. — Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951, Austrian philosopher 4 likes |
 | Vanity is the healthiest thing in life. — Karl Lagerfeld, 1933-2019, German fashion designer 3 likes |
 | Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the Universe. — Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007, American writer 3 likes |
| We say little when vanity does not make us speak. — La Rochefoucauld, 1613-1680, French writer 3 likes |
| What makes the vanity of others insufferable to us is that it wounds our own. — La Rochefoucauld, 1613-1680, French writer 3 likes |
 | Artists have a right to be modest and a duty to be vain. — Karl Kraus, 1874-1936, Austrian writer 3 likes |
 | Sometimes you just have to bite your upper lip and put sunglasses on. — Bob Dylan, 1941-, American singer [Nobel 2016] 3 likes |
 | We all dream of being the darling of everybody's darling. — Mignon McLaughlin, 1913-1983, American magazine editor 3 likes |
 | Vanity is definitely my favorite sin. — from the film Devil’s Advocate (1997) 3 likes |
 | A great many people think that polysyllables are a sign of intelligence and refinement so they think they will impress others with their command of obscure words. — Barbara Walters, 1929-2022, American TV journalist 2 likes |
 | Every man is a king so long as he has someone to look down on. — Sinclair Lewis, 1885-1951, American writer, Nobel 1930 2 likes |
 | And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence. — Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, British philosopher 1 likes |
 | He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow. — George Eliot, 1819-1880, English writer 1 likes |
 | It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am. — Muhammad Ali, 1942-2016, American boxer 1 likes |
 | He had the vanity to believe men did not like him – while men simply did not know him. — Gustave Flaubert, 1821-1880, French writer 1 likes |
 | Conceit is an outward manifestation of inferiority. — Noel Coward, 1899-1973, British playwright 1 likes |
 | Even our fears make us feel important, because we fear we might not be. — Terry Pratchett, 1948-2015, British writer 1 likes |
 | To some degree every American poet feels that the whole responsibility for contemporary poetry has fallen upon his shoulders, that he is a literary aristocracy of one. — W.H. Auden, 1907-1973, British poet 1 likes |
 | Vanity dies hard; in some obstinate cases it outlives the man. — Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850-1894, Scottish writer 1 likes |
 | Vanity is the dominant passion of man. — Henry de Montherlant, 1895-1972, French writer 1 likes |
 | There comes a moment in every person's life when they realize they adore me. — Salvador Dali, 1904-1989, Spanish painter 1 likes |
 | The great would not think themselves demigods if the little did not worship them. — Pierre Claude Boiste, 1765-1824, French lexicographer 1 likes |
| Snobbery is always being able to place oneself in places where others do not have access. — Salvador Dali, 1904-1989, Spanish painter 1 likes |
| Right now I'm the greatest. I don't say this through vanity. It's just that the rest are so bad. — Salvador Dali, 1904-1989, Spanish painter 1 likes |
| Geniuses must never die, the progress of mankind depends on us. — Salvador Dali, 1904-1989, Spanish painter 1 likes |
 | Intellectual is someone who is out to explain to others what he himself has not understood. — André Frossard, 1915-1995, French politician & essayist 1 likes |
 | One reason why birds and horses are not unhappy is because they are not trying to impress other birds and horses. — Dale Carnegie, 1888-1955, American self-help writer 1 likes |
 | If you have a high evaluation of yourself then your ability to recognize new facts is weakened. — Robert M. Pirsig, 1928-2017, American writer 1 likes |
 | I must dispel vanity with vanity. — Tertullian, 155-240 AD, Berber-Roman Christian author 1 likes |
 | Change of fashion is the tax levied by the industry of the poor on the vanity of the rich. — Nicolas Chamfort, 1740-1794, French writer 1 likes |
 | A knowledge of thyself will preserve thee from vanity. — Miguel Cervantes, 1547-1616, Spanish writer 1 likes |
 | It is a great art to be superior to others without letting them know it. — Josh Billings, 1818-1885, American humorist 1 likes |
 | This is the epitaph I want on my tomb: “Here lies one of the most intelligent animals who ever appeared on the face of the earth.” — Benito Moussolini, 1883-1945, Italian dictator 1 likes |
| Dispel the thought that you have qualities that others don't have. — Leo Tolstoy, 1828–1910, Russian writer 1 likes |
| We are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don’t care for. — Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, 1830-1916, German author of maxims 1 likes |
 | Virtually no idea is too ridiculous to be accepted, even by very intelligent and highly educated people, if it provides a way for them to feel special and important. Some confuse that feeling with idealism. — Thomas Sowell, 1930 -, American political thinker 1 likes |
| An American historian cannot write history without lamenting that Providence did not consult him beforehand. — Nicolas Gomez Davila, 1913-1994, Colombian writer 1 likes |
Quotes in Verse
 | Half the harm that is done in this world Is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm — but the harm does not interest them. — T. S. Eliot, 1888-1965, British poet, Nobel 1948 4 likes |
Funny Quotes
 | God is dead. Marx is dead. And I don’t feel so well myself. — Eugene Ionesco, 1912-1994, French-Romanian playwright 8 likes |
 | Some movie stars wear their sunglasses even in church. They're afraid God might recognize them and ask for autographs. — Fred Allen, 1894-1956, American comedian 5 likes |
 | I wish I was a woman, so I could have a relationship with a man like me. — Wolinski, 1934-2015, French cartoonist 3 likes |
Ancient Greek
 | The empty sacs are inflated with air and the fools with conceit. Τους μεν κενούς ασκούς η πνοή διίστησι, τους δ’ ανοήτους, το οίημα. — Socrates, 469-399 BC, Ancient Geek Philosopher 6 likes |
 | Satiety comes of riches and hubris comes of satiety. Τον κόρον υπό του πλούτου γεννάσθαι, την δε ύβριν υπό του κόρου. — Solon, 630-560 BC, Ancient Greek lawmaker & philosopher 6 likes |
 | Zeus punishes those who are too uppity. Ζευς κολαστής των άγαν υπερφρόνων. — Ancient Greek proverb ‐ Children of Hercules 6 likes |
 | Arrogance in full bloom bears a crop of ruinous folly from which it reaps a harvest all of tears. Ύβρις γαρ εξανθούσ᾽ εκάρπωσεν στάχυν άτης, όθεν πάγκλαυτον εξαμά θέρος. — Aeschylus, 525-456 BC, Ancient Greek tragedian 4 likes |
 | One who is a slave to others should not be vainglorious. Ου γαρ εκπέλει φρονείν μέγα όστις δούλος εστι των πέλας. — Sophocles, 496-406 BC, Ancient tragic poet ‐ Antigone 4 likes |
 | It is better to extinguish hubris than a fire. Ύβριν χρη σβεννύναι μάλλον ή πυρκαϊήν. — Heraclitus, 544-484 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 2 likes |
 | Arrogance is the enemy of wisdom. Αλαζονεία εμπόδιον σοφίας. — Bias of Priene, 625-540 BC, one of the 7 sages of Ancient Greece 1 likes |
| Heraclitus said that arrogance is an obstacle to progress. Ηράκλειτος έλεγε την οίησιν προκοπής εγκοπήν. — Heraclitus, 544-484 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 1 likes |
Proverbs
 | Run away from an insult but don’t chase after honor. 6 likes |
