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.
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Famous quotes containing the word vanity:
“Do not forget! For those green times now laugh
In glee with sport and thought and lily dance;
And fate in vanity now leaps to chaff
Me smiling at her winking circumstance.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“It is well for our vanity that we slay the criminal, for if we suffered him to live he might show us what we had gained by his crime.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Whatever pretended causes we may blame our afflictions upon, it is often nothing but self-interest and vanity that produce them.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)