Vain Quotes

Living Life Tomorrow's fate, though thou be wise, Thou canst not tell nor yet surmise; Pass, therefore, not today in vain, For it will never come again.

In outward show so splendid and so vain; 'tis but a gilded block without a brain.

To be a man's own fool is bad enough, but the vain man is everybody's.

Everything is vain and tortures the spirit instead of calming and satisfying it.

Whatever you do for the sole purpose of having others admire you, your efforts will most likely be in vain.

Our pleasance here is all vain glory, This false world is but transitory.

It is vain to talk of the interest of the community, without understanding what is the interest of the individual.

It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.

It is vain to expect a well-balanced government without a well-balanced society.

Death is not more certainly a separation of our souls from our bodies than the Christian life is a separation of our souls from worldly tempers, vain indulgences, and unnecessary cares.

I'm not the type of guy who enjoys one-night stands. It leaves me feeling very empty and cynical. It's not even fun sexually. I need to feel something for the woman and entertain the vain hope that it may lead to a relationship.

If I were to die thinking that I'd written three poems that people might read after me, I would feel that I hadn't lived in vain. Great poets might expect the whole body of their work, but most of us - well, I would settle for a handful.

Men don't and can't live by exchanging articles, but by producing them. They don't live by trade, but by work. Give up that foolish and vain title of Trades Unions; and take that of laborers Unions.

World's use is cold, world's love is vain, world's cruelty is bitter bane; but is not the fruit of pain.

Oh, how great peace and quietness would he possess who should cut off all vain anxiety and place all his confidence in God.

Poetry, it is often said and loudly so, is life's true mirror. But a monkey looking into a work of literature looks in vain for Socrates.

You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. Don't let yourself indulge in vain wishes.

Affliction is not sent in vain, young man, from that good God, who chastens whom he loves.

A religious awakening which does not awaken the sleeper to love has roused him in vain.

If we have not peace within ourselves, it is in vain to seek it from outward sources.

If a war be undertaken... before the resources of peace have been tried and proved vain to secure it, that war has no defense, it is a national crime.

A vain man finds it wise to speak good or ill of himself; a modest man does not talk of himself.

On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.

The martyr sacrifices themselves entirely in vain. Or rather not in vain; for they make the selfish more selfish, the lazy more lazy, the narrow narrower.

And though all streams flow from a single course to cleanse the blood from polluted hand, they hasten on their course in vain.

Women have seldom sufficient employment to silence their feelings; a round of little cares, or vain pursuits frittering away all strength of mind and organs, they become naturally only objects of sense.

Vanity is something that will only get in the way of doing your best work, and ultimately if you're truly vain you care more about your work than how you look in your work. I actually consider myself a pretty vain guy when it comes to that.

About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain to try to do it with ten blunt axes instead.

It is a vain hope to make people happy by politics.

It is in vain that we would circumscribe the power of one half of our race, and that half by far the most important and influential.