Vain Quotes - Page 34

• Stop entertaining those vain fears. Remember it is not feeling which constitutes guilt but the consent to such feelings. Only the free will is capable of good or evil. But when the will sighs under the trial of the tempter and does not will what is presented to it, there is not only no fault but there is virtue.

  Pio of Pietrelcina

  Faith, Inspiration, Evil

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• She knew that the horse, born to serve nobly, had waited in vain for someone noble to serve. His spirit knew that nobility had gone out of men.

  D. H. Lawrence

  Horse, Men, Gone

  D.H. Lawrence (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of D.H. Lawrence (Illustrated)”, p.4209, Delphi Classics

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• Vain vision! when the changing world each day Sees some such lordly pleasance pass away; When the mere stripling knows my symbols all Worn tokes, heaven hypothetical, Nature indifferent, and the dreams of men Figments of longing which we must condemn. Yet keep these plants, O Man! a kinder time May yet be moved by them to better rhyme, Or moved, like me, to place his pleasure low, On the firm Earth, whence Men and Blossoms grow.

  Ruth Pitter

  Death, Dream, Men

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• Let but the public mind become once thoroughly corrupt, and all attempts to secure property, liberty or life, by mere force of laws written on parchment, will be as vain as to put up printed notices in an orchard to keep off the canker-worms.

  Horace Mann

  Apples, Law, Effort

  "The Albany Law Journal", Vol. XLIX, (p. 47), January - June 1894.

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• The founders of this nation understood that private morality is the fount from whence sound public policy springs. Replying to Washington's first inaugural address, the Senate stated: "We feel, sir, the force and acknowledge the justness of the observation that the foundation of our national policy should be lain in private morality. If individuals be not influenced by moral principles it is in vain to look for public virtue."

  Thomas G. West

  Spring, Foundation, Sound

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• Our unalterable resolution would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous then their arms. Let us then renounce all treaty with them upon any score but that of total separation, and under God trust our cause to our swords.

  Samuel Adams

  Art, Would Be, May

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• It is in vain to oppose constitutional barriers to the impulse of self-preservation. It is worse than in vain; because it plants in the Constitution itself necessary usurpations of power, every precedent of which is a germ of unnecessary and multiplied repetitions.

  James Madison

  Self, Germs, Constitution

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1852). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution: Written in 1788”, p.219

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• It is in vain to hope to guard against events too mighty for human foresight or precaution, and it would be idle to object to a government because it could not perform impossibilities.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Government, Events, Would Be

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2014). “The Federalist Papers”, p.77, Courier Corporation

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• If we are in earnest about giving the Union energy and duration we must abandon the vain project of legislating upon the States in their collective capacities.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Government, Giving, Energy

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1852). “The Federalist, on the new constitution, written in 1788, with an appendix, containing the letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the proclamation of neutrality of 1793, also the original articles of confederation and the constitution of the United States”, p.105

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• There never was a good war," said Franklin. "There have indeed been many wars in which a good man must take part, and take part with grave gladness to die if need be, a willing sacrifice, thankful to give life for what is dearer than life, and happy that even by death in war he is serving the cause of peace. But if a war be undertaken for the most righteous end, before the resources of peace have been tried and proved vain to secure it, that war has no defense, it is a national crime.

  Charles Eliot Norton

  War, Sacrifice, Men

  Charles Eliot Norton (1913). “Letters of Charles Eliot Norton”

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• Man that is of woman born is apt to be as vain has his mother.

  Robert Frost

  Mother, Men, Vanity

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• The aim of life is some way of living, as flexible and gentle as human nature; so that ambition may stoop to kindness, and philosophy to condor and humor. Neither prosperity nor empire nor heaven can be worth winning at the price of a virulent temper, bloody hands, an anguished spirit, and a vain hatred of the rest of the world.

  George Santayana

  Life, Kindness, Philosophy

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• Affliction is not sent in vain, young man, from that good God, who chastens whom he loves.

  Robert Southey

  Love, Men, Trials

  Robert Southey (1847). “The Poetical Works of Robert Southey: Complete in One Volume”, p.320

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• If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Song, Cheer, Volunteer

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.224, Beacon Press

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• Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good; a shining gloss that fadeth suddenly; a flower that dies when it begins to bud; a doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower, lost, faded, broken, dead within an hour.

  William Shakespeare

  Beauty, Flower, Glasses

  William Shakespeare (1833). “The plays and poems of William Shakspeare”, p.940

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• A vain man finds it wise to speak good or ill of himself; a modest man does not talk of himself.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Wise, Men, Doe

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• So let us here resolve that Dag Hammarskjold did not live, or die, in vain. Let us call a truce to terror. Let us invoke the blessings of peace. And, as we build an international capacity to keep peace, let us join in dismantling the national capacity to wage war.

  John F. Kennedy

  Peace, War, Blessing

  Address to the United Nations General Assembly, delivered 25 September 1961

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• That peace, safety, and concord may be the portion of our native land, and be long enjoyed by our fellow-citizens, is the most ardent wish of my heart, and if I can be instrumental in procuring or preserving them, I shall think I have not lived in vain.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Peace, Heart, Thinking

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1859). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence”, p.378

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• We in this country, in this generation, areby destiny rather than choicethe watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of peace on earth, good will toward men. That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Peace, Wall

  Undelivered Speech to the Dallas Citizens Council, delivered 22 November 1963, Trade Mart, Dallas, Texas

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• Vain, very vain, my weary search to find
  That bliss which only centers in the mind.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Happiness, Mind

  "Collected Works".

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• I am already kindly disposed towards you. My friendship it is not in my power to give: this is a gift which no man can make, it is not in our own power: a sound and healthy friendship is the growth of time and circumstance, it will spring up and thrive like a wildflower when these favour, and when they do not, it is in vain to look for it.

  William Wordsworth

  Spring, Power, Men

  William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth (1907). “Letters of the Wordsworth family from 1787 to 1855”

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• You know what I am going to say. I love you. What other men may mean when they use that expression, I cannot tell; what I mean is, that I am under the influence of some tremendous attraction which I have resisted in vain, and which overmasters me.

  Charles Dickens

  Love, Mean, Men

  Charles Dickens (2016). “Our Mutual Friend”, p.528, Charles Dickens

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• We waste our lights in vain, like lamps by day.

  William Shakespeare

  Light, Lamps, Waste

  William Shakespeare (2000). “Romeo and Juliet”, p.60, Classic Books Company

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• You should know how many incompetent men I had to compete with-in vain.

  Inge Lehmann

  Men, Ignorant People, Incompetence

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• You can either be a vain movie star, or you can try to shed some light on different aspects of the human condition.

  Leonardo DiCaprio

  Stars, Light, Trying

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

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