Literary notes about Vanity (AI summary)
In literature, "vanity" serves as a multifaceted term that captures both the superficial pride of individuals and the deeper, often ironic, commentary on human frailty and the impermanence of worldly pursuits. At times, authors employ the word to expose the empty self-absorption and materialism of their characters, as when vanity is depicted as a trigger for alarm or a cause for great—but ultimately misguided—efforts ([1],[2]). In other contexts, it becomes a reflective marker of personal wounded pride or even a critique of societal norms, suggesting that lavish grandeur may conceal deeper inadequacies ([3],[4],[5]). Moreover, "vanity" often resonates with a broader philosophical inquiry into the futility of earthly accomplishments and the ephemeral nature of human endeavors ([6],[7]).
- You know what a puffed-up man he is, and how easily you can cause his vanity to take the alarm.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - Vanity and those who have guided him, have made him undertake great things, almost all opposed to his profession.
— from Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims by François duc de La Rochefoucauld - Towards the end of my speech I really was excited, and now my vanity was somehow wounded.
— from Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - In one way and another, he began to betray a boundless vanity, and a wounded vanity, too, and that Ivan disliked.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Nevertheless, next morning, upon awakening, I had my doubts,—I had somehow slept off the fumes of vanity.
— from Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street by Herman Melville - Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, and all things are vanity.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - 10 For one day in thy Courts to be Is better, and mere blest Then in the joyes of Vanity, A thousand daies at best.
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton
