| Ah!
Vanitas Vanitatum! [Vanity of Vanities!] Which of us is happy in
this world? Which of us has his desire? Or, having it, is satisfied?
-- William Makepeace Thackeray, in his novel Vanity Fair
If one has no vanity in this life of ours, there is no sufficient
reason for living.
--Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910)
When
dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures
of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bustling
with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.
--Dale Carnegie
Vanity is the quicksand of reason.
--George Sands
Vanity makes us do more things against inclination than reason.
--Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680)
Offended vanity is the great separator in social life.
|
 But
as this film so clearly shows, without love, all is vanity.
And despite all that she gains and loses, love is the one thing
Becky seems incapable of either giving or receiving—unless
it serves her purposes. I cannot think of a better illustration
of Christ’s words in Mark 8:36, “And how do you benefit
if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?”
--Kevin Miller
Eccles.
1:2-18
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What do people gain from all the toil
at which they toil under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun goes down,
and hurries to the place where it rises.
The wind blows to the south,
and goes around to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they continue to flow.
All things are wearisome;
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
or the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said,
"See, this is new"?
It has already been,
in the ages before us.
The people of long ago are not remembered,
nor will there be any remembrance
of people yet to come
by those who come after them.
I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind
to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven;
it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to
be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and
see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.
I said to myself, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing
all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great
experience of wisdom and knowledge." And I applied my mind
to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this
also is but a chasing after wind.
For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow. |
