Joseph Addison Quotes

Who would not give up wit for power and beauty?

Conceit causes more conversation than wit.

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.

There is no restraining men's tongues or pens when charged with a little vanity.

There is this paradox in pride - it makes some men ridiculous, but prevents others from becoming so.

Every man has just as much vanity as he wants understanding.

It beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where 't is kept is lighter than vanity.

Conversation is the image of the mind. As the man is, so is his talk.

If each of us were to confess his most secret desire, the one that inspires all his plans, all his actions, he would say: "I want to be praised."

Body. Soul. Mind. Sensations: the body. Desires: the soul. Reasoning: the mind.

Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves.

The demon of pride was born with us; and it will not die one hour before us.

Our continual desire for praise ought to convince us of our mortality, if nothing else will.

Vainglory, however, no matter how much medieval Christianity insisted it was a sin, is a motor of mankind, no more eradicable than sex.

A secret is too little for one, enough for two, and too much for three.

There are two kinds of people in this world: people who want to be desired, and people who want to be desired so much that they pretend they don't.

This is the way the mind functions: its whole interest is in that which you have not got.

Vanity well fed is benevolent. Vanity hungry is spiteful.

Vanity, or to call it by a gentler name, the desire of admiration and applause, is, perhaps, the most universal principle of humanactions.... Where that desire is wanting, we are apt to be indifferent, listless, indolent, and inert.... I will own to you, under the secrecy of confession, that my vanity has very often made me take great pains to make many a woman in love with me, if I could, for whose person I would not have given a pinch of snuff.

The desire for glory clings even to the best men longer than any other passion.

It's safe to tell a secret to one, Risky to tell it to two. To tell it to three is thoughtless folly, Everyone else will know.

I think if you try to look for something to show off as an actor, vanity can get the better of you.

What really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattering.

The love of fame is a love that even the wisest of men are reluctant to forgo.

One can never outlive one's vanity.