I scarce ever heard or saw the introductory words, 'Without vanity I may say,' &c., but some vain thing immediately followed. Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others that are within his sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.

The art of concluding from experience and observation consists in evaluating probabilities, in estimating if they are high or numerous enough to constitute pro…

From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books.

I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.

Nothing so soothes our vanity as a display of greater vanity in others; it make us vain, in fact, of our modesty.

Pride is an established conviction of one's own paramount worth in some particular respect, while vanity is the desire of rousing such a conviction in others, …

To say that a man is vain means merely that he is pleased with the effect he produces on other people. A conceited man is satisfied with the effect he produces…