"That something so obvious as the vanity..." - Quote by Blaise Pascal
That something so obvious as the vanity of the world should be so little recognized that people find it odd and surprising to be told that it is foolish to seek greatness; that is most remarkable.
More by Blaise Pascal
“We are fools to depend upon the society of our fellow-men. Wretched as we are, powerless as we are, they will not aid us; we shall die alone.”
“Let man then contemplate the whole of nature in her full and grand majesty... No idea approaches it. We may enlarge our conceptions beyond all imaginable space; we only produce atoms in comparison with the reality of things. It is an infinite sphere, the center of which is everywhere, the circumference nowhere.”
“The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.”
More on Vanity
“[On vanity:] The nose of Cleopatra: if it had been shorter, the face of the earth would have changed.”
“We sometimes think that we hate flattery, but we only hate the manner in which it is done.[Fr., On croit quelquefoir hair la flatterie; maid on ne hait que a maniere de flatter.]”
“Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust? And, live we how we can, yet die we must.”
More on Human Nature
“Were we faultless, we would not derive such satisfaction from remarking the faults of others.”
“The conviction that the world and man is something that had better not have been, is of a kind to fill us with indulgence towards one another.”
“There are two kinds of fidelity, that of dogs and that of cats; you, gentleman, have the fidelity of cats who never leave the house.”