Ostentation Quotes - Page 3

• His manners were less pure, but his character was equally amiable with that of his father. Twenty-two acknowledged concubines, and a library of sixty-two thousand volumes, attested the variety of his inclinations, and from the productions which he left behind him, it appears that the former as well as the latter were designed for use rather than ostentation.

  Edward Gibbon

  Father, Character, Two

  Edward Gibbon, M. Guizot (François) (1853). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.224

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• It is the duty of all who make philosophy the entertainment of their lives, to turn their thoughts to practical schemes for the good of society, and not pass away their time in fruitless searches, which tend rather to the ostentation of knowledge than the service of life.

  Joseph Addison

  Philosophy, Passing Away, Entertainment

  Joseph Addison (1837). “The Tatler. The Guardian. The Freeholder. The Whig-examiner. The lover. Dialogues upon the usefulness of ancient medals. Remarks on several parts of Italy, etc. The present state of the war. The late trial and conviction of Count Tariff. The evidences of the Christian religion. Essay on Virgil's Georgics. Poems on several occasions. Translations from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Notes on some of the foregoing stories in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Poemata. Rosamond. Cato. The drummer”, p.90

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• Do you think it is a vain hope that one day man will find joy in noble deeds of light and mercy, rather than in the coarse pleasures he indulges in today -- gluttony, fornication, ostentation, boasting, and envious vying with his neighbor? I am certain this is not a vain hope and that the day will come soon.

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

  Men, Thinking, Light

  Fyodor Dostoevsky (2011). “The Brothers Karamazov”, p.545, Bantam Classics

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• Professional standards, the standards of ambition and selfishness, are always sliding downward toward expense, ostentation, and mediocrity. They tend always to narrow the ground of judgment. But amateur standards, the standards of love, are always straining upward toward the humble and the best. They enlarge the ground of judgment. The context of love is the world.

  Wendell Berry

  Life, Humble, Ambition

  Wendell Berry (2010). “What Are People For?: Essays”, p.90, Counterpoint Press

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• Funeral expenses are the curse of the poor everywhere on earth, they are wasteful and unnecessary, they are the price of foolish ostentation and a display that is less an evidence of grief than a vulgar travesty of those pompous obsequies where no grief is.

  Joyce Cary

  Grief, Funeral, Earth

  Joyce Cary (1985). “Except the Lord”, p.39, New Directions Publishing

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