Curiosity is only vanity. We usually only want to know something so that we can talk about it.

Do you wish people to think well of you? Don't speak well of yourself.

The charm of fame is so great, that we like every object to which it is attached, even death.

What a strange vanity painting is; it attracts admiration by resembling the original, we do not admire.

We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavor to shine. We labor unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence and neglect the real.

Vanity is but the surface.

We are so presumptuous that we wish to be known to all the world, even to those who come after us; and we are so vain that the esteem of five or six persons immediately around us is enough to amuse and satisfy us.

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

There is no arena in which vanity displays itself under such a variety of forms as in conversation.