Vanity is a motive of immense potency.

One of the troubles about vanity is that it grows with what it feeds on. The more you are talked about, the more you will wish to be talked about

I observe that a very large portion of the human race does not believe in God and suffers no visible punishment in consequence. And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who

And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence.

For there's nothing we read of in torture's inventions, Like a well-meaning dunce, with the best of intentions.

I've made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite.