Ostentation Quotes

• Ostentation is the signal flag of hypocrisy.

  Edwin Hubbel Chapin

  Hypocrisy, Flags, Signals

  "Extemporaneous discourses : delivered in the Broadway church, New York" by Edwin Hubbel Chapin, Publisher: New York: O. Hutchinson, (p. 319), 1860.

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• In my youth I studied for ostentation; later, a little to gain wisdom; now, for recreation; never for gain.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Education, Self, Littles

  Michel de Montaigne (1976). “The Complete Essays of Montaigne”

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• Whatever is done without ostentation, and without the people being witnesses of it, is, in my opinion, most praiseworthy: not that the public eye should be entirely avoided, for good actions desire to be placed in the light; but notwithstanding this, the greatest theater for virtue is conscience.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Inspirational, Eye, Light

  Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pierre-Joseph Thoulier Olivet, Alexander WISHART (1750). “Thoughts of Cicero, on the following subjects, viz. I. Religion, II. Man ... XII. Miscellaneous thoughts. Published in Latin and French by the Abbé d'Olivet; to which is now added, an English translation, with notes. [By Alexander Wishart.]”, p.73

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• That which is given with pride and ostentation is rather an ambition than a bounty.

  Seneca the Younger

  Ambition, Pride, Given

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Nobility of spirit has more to do with simplicity than ostentation, wisdom rather than wealth, commitment rather than ambition.

  Riccardo Muti

  Ambition, Commitment, Simplicity

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• I know that a man who shows me his wealth is like the beggar who shows me his poverty; they are both looking for alms from me, the rich man for the alms of my envy, the poor man for the alms of my guilt.

  Ben Hecht

  Men, Envy, Guilt

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• The offspring of riches: Pride, vanity, ostentation, arrogance, tyranny

  Mark Twain

  Pride, Vanity, Arrogance

  Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.406, Courier Corporation

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• Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.

  William Penn

  Writing, Language Words, Plain Language

  William Penn (1792). “Fruits of Solitude: In Reflections and Maxims Relating to the Conduct of Human Life”, p.130

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• Fashion for the most part is nothing but the ostentation of riches.

  John Locke

  Fashion, Philosophical, Riches

  John Locke (1823). “The Works of John Locke”, p.59

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• Pride is the master sin of the devil, and the devil is the father of lies.

  Edwin Hubbel Chapin

  Lying, Father, Pride

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• An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.

  Joseph Addison

  Conceited, Men, Talking

  Joseph Addison (1729). “The spectator”, p.35

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• Had there not been five bad qualities, all the people would have been righteous. Contentment with ignorance; love for worldly life; miserliness inspite of much wealth; ostentation in (good) deeds; and pride in their own intelligence.

  Ali ibn Abi Talib

  Wisdom, Islamic, Ignorance

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• Do what good thou canst unknown, and be not vain of what ought rather to be felt than seen.

  William Penn

  Deeds, Vain, Ought

  William Penn (1782). “The Select Works of William Penn....”, p.157

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• Fashion is the abortive issue of vain ostentation and exclusive egotism ... tied to no rule, and bound to conform to every whim of the minute.

  William Hazlitt

  Fashion, Issues, Clothes

  William Hazlitt (1839). “Sketches and Essays”, p.205

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• There are two kinds of Riya - Showing off-Ostentation ie pure ostentation and adulterated ostention. In pure ostentation "Riya" a man does a good deed only for worldly benefit. In Adulterated ostentation, a man does a good deed with the intention of reaping the benefits of the world as well as of the Hereafter.

  Al-Ghazali

  Wisdom, Islamic, Men

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• The experience of the ages that are past, the hopes of the ages that are yet to come, unite their voices in an appeal to us;– they implore us to think more of the character of our people than of its numbers; to look upon our vast natural resources, not as tempters to ostentation and pride, but as means to be converted by the refining alchemy of education into mental and spiritual treasures; ...and thus give to the world the example of a nation whose wisdom increases with its prosperity, and whose virtues are equal to its power.

  Horace Mann

  Education, Spiritual, Character

  "Report of an Educational Tour in Germany, and Parts of Great Britain and Ireland: Being Part of the Seventh Annual Report of Horace Mann".

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• The ostentation of our love, which, left unshown, is often left unloved.

  William Shakespeare

  Love, Left, Our Love

  William Shakespeare (2012). “Shakespeare: A Book of Quotations”, p.28, Courier Corporation

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• Human life is fragile: we live in the space between one breath and the next. We often try to maintain an illusion of permanence, through what we do, say, wear, buy, and how we enjoy ourselves and who and how we love. Yet it is an illusion that is constantly being undermined by change and death. We can use diamonds in whatever way we like. They are empty things, pretty as water, yet within them—if we want to see it—there is blood, dust, love, curses, and suffering. There is desire to make someone happy, there is admiration, there is ostentation…and there is a company’s profit curve.

  Victoria Finlay

  Dust, Blood, Space

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• For my part, the thing I would wish to obtain from money would be leisure with security. But what the typical modern man desires to get with it is more money, with a view to ostentation, splendour, and the outshining of those who have hitherto been his equals.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Views, Wish

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.26, Lulu Press, Inc

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• The luxury of ostentation affords a much less substantial and solid gratification, than the luxury of comfort, if I may be allowed the expression.

  Jean-Baptiste Say

  Expression, Luxury, Comfort

  Jean Baptiste Say (1854). “A treatise on political economy, or, the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth”, p.397

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• People of our time are so formed for agitation and ostentation that goodness, moderation, equability, constancy, and such quiet and obscure qualities are no longer felt.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Business, People, Society

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• When blessed with wealth, let them withdraw from the competition of vanity and be modest, retiring from ostentation, and not be the slaves of fashion.

  William Wilberforce

  Fashion, Blessed, Vanity

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• Luxury and Ostentation usually make me feel antsy, like I'm going to get a case of gout.

  Stephan Jenkins

  Luxury, Gout, Cases

  "He can see clearly now / Third Eye Blind's Stephan Jenkins looks at success, love, creativity". Interview with Julian Guthrie, www.sfgate.com. April 20, 2003.

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• He loved possessions, not masses of them, but a select few that he did not part with.They gave a man self-respect. Not ostentation but quality, and the love that cherished the quality. Possessions reminded him that he existed, and made him enjoy his existence. It was as simple as that. And wasn' t that worth something? He existed.

  Patricia Highsmith

  Simple, Men, Self

  "The Talented Mr. Ripley".

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• I have always taken as the standard of the mode of teaching and writing, not the abstract, particular, professional philosopher, but universal man, that I have regarded man as the criterion of truth, and not this or that founder of a system, and have from the first placed the highest excellence of the philosopher in this, that he abstains, both as a man and as an author, from the ostentation of philosophy, i. e., that he is a philosopher only in reality, not formally, that he is a quiet philosopher, not a loud and still less a brawling one.

  Ludwig Feuerbach

  Philosophy, Teaching, Taken

  "The Essence of Christianity". Book by Ludwig Feuerbach (1841), Preface to Second Edition, 1843.

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