--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is very queer, but not the less true…" description: "\"“It is very queer, but not the less true, that people are generally quite as vain, or even more so, of their deficiencies than of their available gifts..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_boast_it-is-very-queer-but-not-the-less-true-t_1827740.jpg" --- # It is very queer, but not the less true, that people are… ![“It is very queer, but not the less true, that people are generally quite as vain, or even more so, of their deficiencies than of their available gifts; as was Hepzibah of this native inapplicability, so to speak, of the Pyncheons to any useful purpose.” quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_boast_it-is-very-queer-but-not-the-less-true-t_1827740.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_boast_it-is-very-queer-but-not-the-less-true-t_1827740.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_boast_it-is-very-queer-but-not-the-less-true-t_1827740.jpg) > ““It is very queer, but not the less true, that people are generally quite as vain, or even more so, of their deficiencies than of their available gifts; as was Hepzibah of this native inapplicability, so to speak, of the Pyncheons to any useful purpose.”” [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People often focus on flaws more than strengths, sometimes absurdly. **In simple terms:** People obsess over deficiencies. Key Takeaway Recognize and value strengths over flaws. Themes vanity self-perception deficiencies Mood analytical reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal development - team dynamics - education Key Concepts psychology social critique Questions to Reflect On - Why do we magnify our weaknesses? - How can we shift focus to strengths? A Different Perspective Some may find value in acknowledging flaws for growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Boast](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boast/) [Lazyness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lazyness/) [Nobility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nobility/) [Queer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/queer/) [Vain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vain/) ## Related quotes > [“It is very queer, but not the less true, that people are generally quite as vain, or even more so, of their deficiencies than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/it-is-very-queer-but-not-the-less-true-that-people-are-generally/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“... for when a man's spirit has been thoroughly crushed, he may be peevish at small offenses, but never resentful of great ones.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/for-when-a-man-s-spirit-has-been-thoroughly-crushed-he-may-be-peevish/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [I train and keep in shape. It's quite vain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelvin-fletcher/i-train-and-keep-in-shape-it-s-quite-vain/) [Kelvin Fletcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelvin-fletcher/) > [I care about being formally physically attractive in my life, and I think that I am quite vain about my performance. I'm just not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-danes/i-care-about-being-formally-physically-attractive-in-my-life-and-i/) [Claire Danes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-danes/) > [“Actually, I'm really quite vain about the whole problem because I figure there is no competition - I am what I am, and either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-caine/actually-i-m-really-quite-vain-about-the-whole-problem-because-i/) [Michael Caine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-caine/) > [I thought it was quite vain to say, I want to be a model.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-moss/i-thought-it-was-quite-vain-to-say-i-want-to-be-a-model/) [Kate Moss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-moss/) > [“She wished to appear only in the full radiance of her beauty. Oh yes, she was quite vain! And her mysterious adornment had lasted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/she-wished-to-appear-only-in-the-full-radiance-of-her-beauty-oh-yes/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [“Whenever I'm running an hour late for for work, it always makes me feel better when I can leave an hour early at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-w-boyer/whenever-i-m-running-an-hour-late-for-for-work-it-always-makes-me/) [Mark W Boyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-w-boyer/) > [You think of travellers as bold, but our guilty secret is that travel is one of the laziest ways on earth of passing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/you-think-of-travellers-as-bold-but-our-guilty-secret-is-that-travel/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [“A chubby vole sat as guardian between the two sections, making sure the hoi polloi didn't get any ideas above their station. His name…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-polansky/a-chubby-vole-sat-as-guardian-between-the-two-sections-making-sure/) [Daniel Polansky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-polansky/) > [“I no longer follow the voices of the sane. I follow the ill because they see farther, feel much more and change what the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-l-alder/i-no-longer-follow-the-voices-of-the-sane-i-follow-the-ill-because/) [Shannon L. Alder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-l-alder/) > [“If it is not in your reach you don't need it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-hernandez/if-it-is-not-in-your-reach-you-don-t-need-it/) [Larry Hernandez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-hernandez/) > [“If you are always saying I'll do it to tomorrow, than your tomorrow will than turn into another day and so on, and so,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-addino/if-you-are-always-saying-i-ll-do-it-to-tomorrow-than-your-tomorrow/) [Victoria Addino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-addino/) > [“Headaches are for sloths as hangovers for drunks.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ahmed-mostafa/headaches-are-for-sloths-as-hangovers-for-drunks/) [Ahmed Mostafa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ahmed-mostafa/) > [“I think we are a great deal better employed, sitting comfortably here among ourselves, and doing nothing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-think-we-are-a-great-deal-better-employed-sitting-comfortably-here/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) ## More by Nathaniel Hawthorne > [“there was something of the women molded into the great, stalwart frame of Hollingsworth; nor was he ashamed of it; as men often are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/there-was-something-of-the-women-molded-into-the-great-stalwart-frame/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [The trees reflected in the river - they are unconscious of a spiritual world so near to them. So are we.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-trees-reflected-in-the-river-they-are-unconscious-of-a-spiritual/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“The dismaying thing about the classic totalitarian mind is that any given gear, though mutilated, will have at its circumference unbroken sequences of teeth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-dismaying-thing-about-the-classic-totalitarian-mind-is-that-any/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire, I longed to kindle one!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/my-heart-was-a-habitation-large-enough-for-many-guests-but-lonely-and/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [Wherever there is a heart and an intellect, the diseases of the physical frame are tinged with the peculiarities of these.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/wherever-there-is-a-heart-and-an-intellect-the-diseases-of-the/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-founders-of-a-new-colony-whatever-utopia-of-human-virtue-and/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [Generosity is the flower of justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/generosity-is-the-flower-of-justice/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“he seemed to be in quest for mental food, not heart sustenance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/he-seemed-to-be-in-quest-for-mental-food-not-heart-sustenance/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“Unfathomable to mere mortals is the lore of fiends.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/unfathomable-to-mere-mortals-is-the-lore-of-fiends/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“Possibly, he was in a state of second growth and recovery, and was constantly assimilating nutriment for his spirit and intellect from sights, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/possibly-he-was-in-a-state-of-second-growth-and-recovery-and-was/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“What wonder, then, should we be frightened by the aspect of a monster, which, after all,—though we can point to every feature of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/what-wonder-then-should-we-be-frightened-by-the-aspect-of-a-monster/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [As the architecture of a country always follows the earliest structures, American architecture should be a refinement of the log-house. The Egyptian is so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/as-the-architecture-of-a-country-always-follows-the-earliest/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [What we call real estate - the solid ground to build a house on - is the broad foundation on which nearly all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/what-we-call-real-estate-the-solid-ground-to-build-a-house-on-is-the/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“The bookworm of great libraries.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-bookworm-of-great-libraries/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [There are many things in this world that a child must not ask about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/there-are-many-things-in-this-world-that-a-child-must-not-ask-about/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) [Explore all 526 Nathaniel Hawthorne quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) ## More Boast quotes > [It would be a piece of ingenuousness to accuse the man of today of his lack of moral code. The accusation would leave him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/it-would-be-a-piece-of-ingenuousness-to-accuse-the-man-of-today-of/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) > [Win without boasting. Lose without excuse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-payson-terhune/win-without-boasting-lose-without-excuse/) [Albert Payson Terhune](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-payson-terhune/) > [Further conceive, I beg, that a stone, while continuing in motion, should be capable of thinking and knowing, that it is endeavoring, as far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/further-conceive-i-beg-that-a-stone-while-continuing-in-motion-should/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Boasting and bravado may exist in the breast even of the coward, if he is successful through a mere lucky hit; but a just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thucydides/boasting-and-bravado-may-exist-in-the-breast-even-of-the-coward-if-he/) [Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thucydides/) > [“In general, poor is polite and rich is rude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/in-general-poor-is-polite-and-rich-is-rude/) [Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/) > [“in other words, his story was part boast, part confession.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-mezrich/in-other-words-his-story-was-part-boast-part-confession/) [Ben Mezrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-mezrich/) > [We are not saints, but we have kept our appointment. How many people can boast as much?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/we-are-not-saints-but-we-have-kept-our-appointment-how-many-people/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [Boast is always a cry of despair, except in the young it is a cry of hope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-berenson/boast-is-always-a-cry-of-despair-except-in-the-young-it-is-a-cry-of/) [Bernard Berenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-berenson/) > [“A classic is read not to enjoy but only to be boast about it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aman-jassal/a-classic-is-read-not-to-enjoy-but-only-to-be-boast-about-it/) [Aman Jassal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aman-jassal/) > [Buonaparte has often made his boast that our fleet would be worn out by keeping the sea and that his was kept in order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horatio-nelson/buonaparte-has-often-made-his-boast-that-our-fleet-would-be-worn-out/) [Horatio Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horatio-nelson/) > [Wisdom can boast no higher attainment than happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-radcliffe/wisdom-can-boast-no-higher-attainment-than-happiness/) [Ann Radcliffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-radcliffe/) > [But thou art fair, and at thy birth, dear boy, Nature and Fortune join'd to make thee great: Of Nature's gifts thou mayst with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/but-thou-art-fair-and-at-thy-birth-dear-boy-nature-and-fortune-join-d/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Science appears but what in truth she is, Not as our glory and our absolute boast, But as a succedaneum, and a prop To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-wordsworth/science-appears-but-what-in-truth-she-is-not-as-our-glory-and-our/) [William Wordsworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-wordsworth/) > [It has, therefore, been a favorite boast of the people of Wales and Cornwall, that the original British stock flourishes in its unmixed purity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bulfinch/it-has-therefore-been-a-favorite-boast-of-the-people-of-wales-and/) [Thomas Bulfinch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bulfinch/) > [Boasting is only a masked shame; it does not truly believe in itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/boasting-is-only-a-masked-shame-it-does-not-truly-believe-in-itself/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) [Browse all 567 Boast quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boast/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It is very queer, but not the less true, that people are generally quite as vain, or even more so, of their deficiencies than of their available gifts; as was Hepzibah of this native inapplicability, so to speak, of the Pyncheons to any useful purpose.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Nathaniel Hawthorne" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/it-is-very-queer-but-not-the-less-true-that-people-are-generally-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Boast" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/it-is-very-queer-but-not-the-less-true-that-people-are-generally-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_boast_it-is-very-queer-but-not-the-less-true-t_1827740.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_boast_it-is-very-queer-but-not-the-less-true-t_1827740.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e95/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_boast_it-is-very-queer-but-not-the-less-true-t_1827740.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is very queer, but not the less true, that people are generally quite as vain, or even more so, of their…” — Nathaniel Hawthorne", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Nathaniel Hawthorne", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“It is very queer, but not...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/it-is-very-queer-but-not-the-less-true-that-people-are-generally-2/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/it-is-very-queer-but-not-the-less-true-that-people-are-generally-2/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```