(83 quotes found)
“In vain we chisel, as best we can, the mysterious block of which our life is made, the black vein of destiny reappears continually.”
Victor Hugo
“From this amphibious ill-born mob beganThat vain, ill-natured thing, an Englishman.”
Daniel Defoe
“Nothing is wasted, nothing is in vain: / The seas roll over but the rocks remain.”
A. P. Herbert
“The ebb and flow of will is like the movements of the tides... if we cease our vain struggles and lamentations long enough to look away from the personal self...we realize life is going well with us after all.”
Charles B. Newcomb
“Do what good thou canst unknown, and be not vain of what ought rather to be felt than seen”
William Penn
“Pavarotti is not vain, but conscious of being unique.”
Peter Ustinov
“Best is the Tongue that feels the rein; He that talks much, must talk in vain; We from the wordy Torrent fly: Who listens to the chattering Pye?”
Benjamin Franklin
“In outward show so splendid and so vain; 'tis but a gilded block without a brain”
Phaedrus
“When I saw that rage was vainAnd to sulk would nothing gain,Turning many a trick and wileI began to soothe and smile.”
William Blake
“To hear complaints with patience, even when complaints are vain, is one of the duties of friendship”
Samuel Johnson
