"O speculators about perpetual motion, how many vain chimeras have you created in the like quest? Go and take your place with the seekers after gold."
Read quote
8 likes
Vain quotes
Vain
195 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Topics related to Vain
Browse quotes that often appear alongside vain — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Vain quotes (page 2 of 10)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"In vain we call old notions fudge, And bend our conscience to our dealing; The Ten Commandments will not budge, And stealing will continue stealing."
Read quote
8 likes
"In the beginning there was faith - which is childish; trust - which is vain; and illusion - which is dangerous."
Read quote
7 likes
"How vain is painting, which is admired for reproducing the likeness of things whose originals are not admired."
Read quote
7 likes
"Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite; keep reason under its own control."
Read quote
7 likes
"He who has learned to look to God in everything he does is at the same time diverted from all vain thoughts."
Read quote
7 likes
"It's in vain to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present."
Read quote
6 likes
"How vain painting is, exciting admiration by its resemblance to things of which we do not admire the originals."
Read quote
6 likes
"Why, all delights are vain; but that most vain, Which, with pain purchas'd, doth inherit pain."
Read quote
6 likes
"It is vain to expect a well-balanced government without a well-balanced society."
Read quote
6 likes
"Against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain."
Read quote
6 likes
"Against stupidity, God Himself fights in vain."
Read quote
6 likes
"It is better to understand a part of truth and apply it to our lives than to understand nothing at all and flounder helplessly in a vain attempt to pierce the mystery of existence."
Read quote
6 likes
"It is vain for painters... to endeavour to invent without materials on which the mind may work."
Read quote
6 likes
"Not vain the weakest, if their force unite."
Read quote
6 likes
"Life itself was only futility, vain words, a squabble of cap and bells."
Read quote
6 likes
"The wise needn't ask, the fool asks in vain."
Read quote
4 likes
"Artists have a right to be modest and a duty to be vain."
Read quote
4 likes
"If someone calls me vain and mean, I know that he trusts me and has something to confess to me."
Read quote
4 likes
"In the mountains of wisdom no climbing is in vain."
Read quote
4 likes