Vain Quotes - Page 15

• How vain painting is-we admire the realistic depiction of objects which in their original state we don't admire at all.

  Blaise Pascal

  Painting, Realistic, States

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• For good undone, and gifts misspent, and resolutions vain

  Adam Lindsay Gordon

  Death, Resolution, Undone

  Adam Lindsay Gordon, Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke (1911). “Poems: A.H. Massina”

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• Natural wealth is limited and easily obtained; the wealth defined by vain fancies is always beyond reach.

  Epicurus

  Fancy, Wealth, Natural

  Epicurus (1964). “Letters: Principles Doctrines, and Vatican Sayings Translated, with an Introd. and Notes, by Russel M. Geor. Indianapolis Merrill”

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• Unless we find repose within ourselves, it is vain to seek it elsewhere.

  Hosea Ballou

  Elsewhere, Repose

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• Reader, I am myself the subject of my book; you would be unreasonable to spend your leisure on so frivolous and so vain a matter.

  Bernard Malamud

  Book, Would Be, Matter

  BERNARD MALAMUD (1979). “DUBLIN'S LIVES”

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• Vain, weak-built isthmus, which dost proudly rise Up between two eternities!

  Abraham Cowley

  Life, Two, Eternity

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• Why, all delights are vain, but that most vain Which, with pain purchased, doth inherit pain: As, painfully to pore upon a book, To seek the light of truth, which truth the while Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look.

  William Shakespeare

  Pain, Book, Light

  William Shakespeare, H. R. Woudhuysen (1998). “Love's Labour's Lost: Third Series”, p.117, Cengage Learning EMEA

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• Were not this desire of fame very strong, the difficulty of obtaining it, and the danger of losing it when obtained, would be sufficient to deter a man from so vain a pursuit.

  Joseph Addison

  Strong, Men, Desire

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steel (1858). “The Spectator”, p.317

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• We lean on Faith; and some less wise have cried, "Behold the butterfly, the see that's cast!" Vain hopes that fall like flowers before the blast! What man can look on Death unterrified?

  Richard Watson Gilder

  Faith, Wise, Flower

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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, Ostentation, Ought

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

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• Poverty, labor, and calamity are not without their luxuries, which the rich, the indolent, and the fortunate in vain seek for.

  William Hazlitt

  Luxury, Poverty, Rich

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1500, Delphi Classics

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• In vain he seeketh others to suppress, Who hath not learn'd himself first to subdue.

  Edmund Spenser

  Firsts, Temper

  Edmund Spenser (1715). “The Works of Mr. Edmund Spenser”, p.872

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• How happy he whose toil Has o'er his languid pow'rless limbs diffus'd A pleasing lassitude; he not in vain Invokes the gentle Deity of dreams. His pow'rs the most voluptuously dissolve In soft repose; on him the balmy dews Of Sleep with double nutriment descend.

  John Armstrong

  Dream, Sleep, Deities

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• But in vain she did conjure him, To depart her presence so, Having a thousand tongues t' allure him And but one to bid him go. When lips invite, And eyes delight, And cheeks as fresh as rose in June, Persuade delay,-- What boots to say Forego me now, come to me soon.

  Walter Raleigh

  Eye, June, Rose

  Walter Raleigh (1829). “The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh”, p.721

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• Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain.

  William Cowper

  Blind, God Works In Mysterious Ways, Interpreter

  'Olney Hymns' (1779) 'Light Shining out of Darkness'

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• The solitary Bee Whose buzzing was the only sound of life, Flew there on restless wing, Seeking in vain one blossom where to fix.

  Robert Southey

  Wings, Sound, Bees

  Robert Southey (1829). “The poetical works of Robert Southey: complete in one volume”, p.115

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• Where grows?--where grows it not? If vain our toil, We ought to blame the culture, not the soil.

  Alexander Pope

  Agriculture, Toil, Soil

  Alexander Pope (1822). “The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope”, p.244

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• Oh, sons of earth! attempt ye still to rise. By mountains pil'd on mountains to the skies? Heav'n still with laughter the vain toil surveys, And buries madmen in the heaps they raise.

  Alexander Pope

  Laughter, Ambition, Son

  Alexander Pope, William Warburton (1757). “The Works of Alexander Pope Esq”, p.134

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• Fool, 'tis in vain from wit to wit to roam: Know, sense, like charity, begins at home.

  Alexander Pope

  Home, Charity, Fool

  Alexander Pope, Alexander Dyce (1859). “The poetical works of Alexander Pope: with a life”, p.212

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• And not a vanity is given in vain.

  Alexander Pope

  Vanity, Given

  Alexander Pope, George Croly (1854). “The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope; with a Memoir of the Author, Notes, and Critical Notices on Each Poem. By the Rev. George Croly ... New Edition. [With a Portrait.]”, p.268

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• In vain would I seek to discover Why sad and mournful am I, My thoughts without ceasing brood over A tale of the time gone by.

  Heinrich Heine

  Gone, Tales, My Thoughts

  Heinrich Heine (2016). “Delphi Complete Poetical Works of Heinrich Heine (Illustrated)”, p.321, Delphi Classics

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• Christianity is strange. It bids man recognise that he is vile, even abominable, and bids him desire to be like God. Without such a counterpoise, this dignity would make him horribly vain, or this humiliation would make him terribly abject.

  Blaise Pascal

  Men, Desire, Strange

  Blaise Pascal (1910). “Thoughts, Letters, and Minor Works”

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• How vain painting is, exciting admiration by its resemblance to things of which we do not admire the originals.

  Blaise Pascal

  Admiration, Painting, Admire

  Pensees no. 74 (1658)

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• How vain is painting, which is admired for reproducing the likeness of things whose originals are not admired.

  Blaise Pascal

  Vanity, Painting, Reproducing

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• A flower, when offered in the bud, is no vain sacrifice.

  Isaac Watts

  Flower, Sacrifice, Bud

  Isaac Watts (1867). “Divine & moral songs for children”, p.32

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