Vanity, Vanity Everywhere
Blaise Pascal:
Vanity is so anchored in man’s heart that a soldier, a camp-follower, a cook, a porter, boast and wish to have admirers; and the philosophers wish the same; and those who write against the desire of glory, glory in having written well; and those who read it, desire to have glory for having read it; and I who write this have perhaps the same desire; and also those who will read what I write.
Pensées ed. Girard, No. 150 (quoted in Arthur Lovejoy’s Reflections on Human Nature, p. 132)