Vain Quotes

986 Vain quotes by 692 unique authors

Shall we mourn here deedless forever a shadow-folk mist-haunting dropping vain tears in the thankless sea — J.R.R. Tolkien
Laments of an Icarus The paramours of courtesans Are well and satisfied, content. But as for me my limbs are rent Because I clasped the… — Charles Baudelaire
A cultivated and decent man cannot be vain without setting a fearfully high standard for himself, and without despising and almost hating himself at certain… — Fyodor Dostoevsky
ClichÃ©s so often befall vain people. — Ann Beattie
All at once I felt so vain, like a girl posturing for the crowds as she walks along, only to discover the street is empty. — Arthur Golden
It is difficult to undo our own damage, and to recall to our presence that which we have asked to leave. It is hard to… — Annie Dillard
[He] didnâ€™t like to think of himself as vain, but there were definitely times when he wished there was someone on hand to take his… — David Nicholls
I am a wicked man... But do you know, gentlemen, what was the main point about my wickedness? The whole thing, precisely was, the greatest… — Fyodor Dostoevsky
I construct my memories with my present. I am lost, abandoned in the present. I try in vain to rejoin the past: I cannot escape. — Jean-Paul Sartre
No, my dog used to gaze at me, paying me the attention I need, the attention required to make a vain person like me understand… — Pablo Neruda
Emperors are vain and useless things. — Scott Westerfeld
If I can stop one heart from breakingâ€¦â€ Emily Dickinson If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If… — Emily Dickinson
Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary… — H P Lovecraft
My mind has touched the farthest horizons of mortal imagination and reaches ever outward to embrace infinity. There is no knowledge beyond my comprehension, no… — Susan Kay
This made me reflect, how vain an attempt it is for a man to endeavor to do himself honor among those who are out of… — Jonathan Swift
Meanwhile the 3 a.m. drunks of the world would lay in their beds, trying in vain to sleep, and deserving that rest, if they could… — Charles Bukowski
Most of our platitudes notwithstanding, self-deception remains the most difficult deception. The tricks that work on others count for nothing in that very well-lit back… — Joan Didion
All we had was her room, her stories, and the quiet that settled in as we tried in vain to spread ourselves out and fill… — Sarah Dessen
And so it is with our own past. It is a labour in vain to attempt to recapture it: all the efforts of our intellect… — Marcel Proust
Whosoever will list himself under the banner of Christ, must, in the first place and above all things, make war upon his own lusts and… — John Locke

Who Wrote These Vain Quotes

692 authors contributed a total of 986 Vain Quotes, led by these top contributors: