Vanity

It leads to further grasping at the wind.

Vanity, as the writer of Ecclesiastes says.

The preacher.

It leads to more vanity.

Some of us are pious, some of us are generous, some few of us are honest, comparatively speaking, and some, fewer still, may possibly be truthful.

But in vanity and kindred weaknesses we can all join hands.

Vanity is one of those touches of nature that make the whole world kin— from the Indian hunter, proud of his belt of scalps, to the European general, swelling beneath his row of stars and medals, from the Chinese, gleeful at the length of his pigtail, to the professional beauty, suffering tortures in order that her waist may resemble a peg-top.

from draggle-tailed little Polly Stiggins strutting through seven dials with a tattered parasol over her head, to the princess sweeping through a drawing-room with a train of four yards long, from Arry winning by vulgar chaff the loud laughter of his pals, to the statesman whose ears are tickled by the cheers that greet his high-sounding periods— from the dark-skinned African bartering his rare oils and ivory for a few glass beads to hang about his neck, to the Christian maiden selling her white body for a score of tiny stones and an empty title to tack before her name.

All march and fight and bleed and die beneath its tawdry flag.

It is not only true that humility is a much wiser and more vigorous thing than pride.

It is also true that vanity is a much wiser and more vigorous thing than pride.

Vanity is social.

It is almost a kind of comradeship.

Pride is solitary and uncivilized.

Vanity is active.

It desires the applause of infinite multitudes.

Pride is passive, desiring only the applause of one person, which it already has.

Remember in the Devil's Advocate, the last line is that...

Pride is the devil's most vanity.

Vanity is my favorite sin.

So we need to keep ourselves humble regardless how skillful we are, regardless how much experienced we are, regardless how much training is behind and how much light it is.

We still need every day to stay humble and ask God on our side.

The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, vanity of vanities.

All that is done without God's guidance is vanity, futile, meaningless, a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes, merely chasing the wind.

What advantage does man have from all his work, which he does under the sun or while earthbound? One generation goes and another generation comes, but the earth remains forever.

I'm sure you can think of more than a few very famous narcissists that you're like, yeah, no, not, not feeling the sexy there.

Vanity is not just that somebody looks good by societal standards.

It's that they care about everything, the way everything looks.

So if it's not their face, if it's not their clothes, if it's not their body, maybe their home.

It can be exciting to have somebody give you gifts in the form of new clothing or new jewelry.

It can take a minute before you realize that what's happening is that this relationship is more about what's Instagrammable than what's actually happening in the relationship.

Vanity plays beautifully on social media and in other places you might post images or videos of your relationship.

Where vanity doesn't play well is when emotional needs need to be met.

Yet of all the dark hidden motives that influence us in our interactions with others, perhaps the most powerful and pervasive is vanity.

The most vulnerable and yet most unconquerable of things is human vanity, wrote Friedrich Nietzsche.

Vanity is excessive pride in our supposed good qualities combined with a deep need to be admired and praised by others.

It is present, to some degree, in almost every social situation.

Take everyday conversation.