#ride

He who despises himself, nevertheless esteems himself as a self-despiser. (Nietzsche.) A vain person is always vain about something. He overestimates the importance of some quality or exaggerates the degree to which he possesses it, but the quality has some real importance and he does possess it to some degree. The fantasy of overestimation or exaggeration makes the vain person comic, but the fact that he cannot be vain about nothing makes his vanity a venial sin, because it is always open to correction by appeal to objective fact. A proud person, on the other hand, is not proud of anything, he is proud, he exists proudly. Pride is neither comic nor venial, but the most mortal of all sins because, lacking any basis in concrete particulars, it is both incorrigible and absolute: one cannot be more or less proud, only proud or humble. Thus, if a painter tries to portray the Seven Deadly Sins, his experience will furnish him readily enough with images symbolic of Gluttony, Lust, Sloth, Anger, Avarice, and Envy, for all these are qualities of a person’s relations to others and the world, but no experience can provide an image of Pride, for the relation it qualifies is the subjective relation of a person to himself. In the seventh frame, therefore, the painter can only place, in lieu of a canvas, a mirror. ↗

— W.H. Auden

#vanity #anger

Save your world. Love it. Protect it, and respect it and don't let haters represent it. Don't leave the saving to anyone else, ever, because, exhibit A - why, hello there - it's way too much for one person. And if you want to skip out on the responsibility train, my whole life - and death - will have been in vain. It's yours. It's all yours for taking! You're not going to waste it now, are you? ↗

— James Patterson

#maximum-ride #nevermore #noble #save-the-world #death

My father told me once that the most important thing every man should know is what he would die for. ↗

— Tana French

#pride #sacrifice #death

We must be so heavenly minded that we are compelled to be of earthly good! ↗

— Marilynn Dawson

#christian-living #divorce #faith #faith-journey #faith-walk

Knowing and thinking exist for the sake of love -- for the sake of building people up in faith. Thinking that produces pride instead of love is not true thinking. ↗

— John Piper

#love #pride #thinking #faith

The only way to prevent pride from taking root in our heart and our life is to embrace a life filled with faith, understanding, and forgiveness. ↗

— Heather Bixler

#faith #forgiveness #inspirational-religious #pride #understanding

I remind you that I have no faith. If I sought God, I find myself. ↗

— Henry de Montherlant

#pride #faith

She was given a man's name." The stable master nearly jumped out of his tunic. He hadn't heard Alec Kincaid's approach. He turned around and came face to shoulders with the giant warrior. " 'Twas her mama's way of giving her a place in this family. Baron Jamison weren't the man who fathered Jamie. He claimed her for his own, though. I'll give him that much kindness. Did you get a good look at her, then?" he added in a rush. Alec nodded. "You'll be taking her with you, won't you?" The Kincaid stared at the old man a long minute before answering. "Aye, Beak. I'll be taking her with me." The choice had been made. ↗

— Julie Garwood

#lairds-fiance-s #the-bride #family

It was time to bring out the world destructive weapons. It was now time to hit him where it would do the biggest damage, his pride. ↗

— Ottilie Weber

#inner-self #pride #revenge #strength #weapons

And after that until the end, there was no relief from being a girl with chores that she wasn’t being paid for, a girl with no new sandals and a friend who wasn’t a friend but a mistress, and a family that wasn’t but people who owned her and ordered her about, and nothing at all but her pretty breasts and her round bottom and her misbehaving hair to help her feel any different. ↗

— Ru Freeman

#mistress #orphan #pride #servant #family