“Vanity dies hard; in some obstinate cases it outlives the man.”

—  Robert Louis Stevenson, book Prince Otto

Prince Otto, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Vanity dies hard; in some obstinate cases it outlives the man." by Robert Louis Stevenson?
Robert Louis Stevenson photo
Robert Louis Stevenson118
Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer 1850–1894

Related quotes

William Hazlitt photo

“In some situations, if you say nothing, you are called dull; if you talk, you are thought impertinent and arrogant. It is hard to know what to do in this case. The question seems to be, whether your vanity or your prudence predominates.”

William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English writer

Source: Selected Essays, 1778-1830

Ramakrishna photo

“The vanities of all others may gradually die out, but the vanity of a saint regarding his sainthood is hard indeed to wear away.”

Ramakrishna (1836–1886) Indian mystic and religious preacher

Source: Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna (1960), p. 110

“If a man’s deeds do not outlive him, of what value is a mark in stone?”

Sean Russell (1952) author

Source: World Without End (1995), Chapter 24 (p. 341)

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. photo

“Great cases like hard cases make bad law. For great cases are called great, not by reason of their importance in shaping the law of the future, but because of some accident of immediate overwhelming interest which appeals to the feelings and distorts the judgement.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) United States Supreme Court justice

Northern Securities Co. v. United States, 193 U.S. 197, 400-401 (1904).
1900s

Tryon Edwards photo

“The prejudiced and obstinate man does not so much hold opinions, as his opinions hold him.”

Tryon Edwards (1809–1894) American theologian

Source: A Dictionary of Thoughts, 1891, p. 438.

Bernie Sanders photo

“Now here is my point. Some of you may agree with me, and some of you may not, but in my view, it would be hard for anyone in this room today to make the case that the United States of America, our great country, a country which all of us love, it would be hard to make the case that we are a just society, or anything resembling a just society today.”

Bernie Sanders (1941) American politician, senator for Vermont

2010s, Liberty University Speech (14 September 2015)

John Hay photo

“He weren't no saint—but at jedgment
I'd run my chance with Jim.
'Longside of some pious gentlemen
That wouldn't shook hands with him.
He seen his duty, a dead-sure thing—
And went for it thar and then;
And Christ ain't a-going to be too hard
On a man that died for men.”

John Hay (1838–1905) American statesman, diplomat, author and journalist

"Jim Bludso", Pike County Ballads http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_County_Ballads, (1871).

Joseph Addison photo

“The man resolved, and steady to his trust,
Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just,
May the rude rabble's insolence despise”

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright

Translation of Horace, Odes, Book III, ode iii.
Context: The man resolved, and steady to his trust,
Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just,
May the rude rabble's insolence despise,
Their senseless clamours and tumultuous cries;
The tyrant's fierceness he beguiles,
And the stern brow, and the harsh voice defies,
And with superior greatness smiles.

George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax photo

“The vanity of teaching often tempteth a Man to forget he is a Blockhead.”

George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (1633–1695) English politician

Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Reflections (1750), Moral Thoughts and Reflections

François-René de Chateaubriand photo

“Aristocracy has three successive ages, — the age of superiorities, the age of privileges, and the age of vanities; having passed out of the first, it degenerates in the second, and dies away in the third.”

François-René de Chateaubriand book Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe

Variants: Aristocracy has three successive ages. First superiorities, then privileges and finally vanities. Having passed from the first, it degenerates in the second and dies in the third.
Aristocracy has three successive ages. First superiority, then privileges and finally vanities. Having passed from the first, it degenerates in the second and dies in the third.
Original version: L'aristocratie a trois âges successifs : l'âge des supériorités, l'âge des privilèges, l'âge des vanités ; sortie du premier, elle dégènère dans le second et s'éteint dans le dernier.
Book I, Ch. 1 : The Vallé-aux-loups
Mémoires d'outre-tombe (1848 – 1850)

Related topics