#vanity

Amongst democratic nations men easily attain a certain equality of conditions: they can never attain the equality they desire. It perpetually retires from before them, yet without hiding itself from their sight, and in retiring draws them on. At every moment they think they are about to grasp it; it escapes at every moment from their hold. They are near enough to see its charms, but too far off to enjoy them; and before they have fully tasted its delights they die. ↗

— Alexis de Tocqueville

#equality #life #vanity #death

But a man's beauty represents inner, functional truths: his face shows what he can do. And what is that compared to the magnificent uselessness of a woman's face? Mersault was aware of this now, delighting in his vanity and smiling at his secret demons. ↗

— Albert Camus

#men #vanity #women #beauty

I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die. I am jealous of the portrait you have painted of me. Why should it keep what I must lose? Every moment that passes takes something from me and gives something to it. Oh, if it were only the other way! If the picture could change, and I could be always what I am now! Why did you paint it? It will mock me some day—mock me horribly! ↗

— Oscar Wilde

#jealousy #vanity #beauty

You are vain and wicked- as a genius should be. ↗

— Günter Grass

#vanity #wickedness #vanity

Жената осъзна, че грехът на Ева не е бил в изяждането на ябълката. Грехът й е бил, че сама се е поддала на властта на мъжа, обръщайки се по гръб. Мъжът до този момент я любел така, както виждал, че го правят овните, петлите и кучетата му. Но един ден жената се извъртяла, та му показала незащитения си корем, в който създавала живота. Като оставила съдбата си и съдбата на неродените от утробата й деца на волята на мъжа, жената престанала да му бъде равна. И сторила този грях само и само да му види очите. Защото го обичала! И той да й види очите. Защото била суетна... ↗

— Radostina A. Angelova

#sex #sin #vanity #love

I've loved many women...I'm not going to lie to you, but it never works...vanity always gets in the way. ↗

— Cassandra Giovanni

#love #love-story #musician #romance #vanity

What a situation!' cried Miss Squeers; '...What is the reason that men fall in love with me, whether I like it or not, and desert their chosen intendeds for my sake?' 'Because they can't help it, miss,' replied the girl; 'the reason's plain.' (If Miss Squeers were the reason, it was very plain.) ↗

— Charles Dickens

#humor #plain #vanity #love

Every author, however modest, keeps a most outrageous vanity chained like a madman in the padded cell of his breast. ↗

— Logan P. Smith

#cell #chained #every #his #however

He had the vanity to believe men did not like him – while men simply did not know him. ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#vanity #men

Clichés so often befall vain people. ↗

— Ann Beattie

#vain #vanity #men