Vanity
In conventional parlance, vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others (Stephen LaMarche). Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant futility. The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic synonym for vanity, but originally meant boasting in vain, i.e. unjustified boasting; although glory is now seen as having an exclusively positive meaning, the Latin term gloria (from which it derives) roughly means boasting, and was often used as a negative criticism.
Read more about Vanity.
Famous quotes containing the word vanity:
“Enjoying praise is in some people merely a civility of the heart—and just the opposite of a vanity of the spirit.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“If vanity does not quite overturn our virtues, yet at least it makes them all totter.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“What is the vanity of the vainest man compared with the vanity which the most modest person possesses when, in connection with nature and the world, he experiences himself as “man”!”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)