Vanity
In conventional parlance, vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others (Stephen LaMarche). Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant futility. The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic synonym for vanity, but originally meant boasting in vain, i.e. unjustified boasting; although glory is now seen as having an exclusively positive meaning, the Latin term gloria (from which it derives) roughly means boasting, and was often used as a negative criticism.
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Famous quotes containing the word vanity:
“Where people wish to attach, they should always be ignorant. To come with a well- informed mind, is to come with an inability of administering to the vanity of others, which a sensible person would always wish to avoid. A woman especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing any thing, should conceal it as well as she can.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)
“If vanity does not quite overturn our virtues, yet at least it makes them all totter.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“I am sensible that my keenness of temper, and a vanity to be distinguished for the day, make me too often splash in life.... I am resolved to restrain myself and attend more to decorum.”
—James Boswell (1740–1795)