Pride

Small things make base men proud.

The tyrant is a child of Pride Who drinks from his great sickening cup Recklessness and vanity, Until from his high crest headlong He plummets to the dust of hope. 7

For God hates utterly The bray of bragging tongues.

Nobly to live, or else nobly to die, Befits proud birth. 2

Pride, the never-failing vice of fools.

A good stylist should have narcissistic enjoyment as he works. He must be able to objectivize his work to such an extent that he catches himself feeling envious and has to jog his memory to find that he is himself the creator. In short, he must display that highest degree of objectivity which the world calls vanity.

An author who assures you that he writes for himself alone and that he does not care whether he is heard or not is a boaster and is deceiving either himself or you.

The best thing you can do about critics is never say a word. In the end you have the last say, and they know it.

Never demean yourself by talking back to a critic.… Write those letters to the editor in your head, but don’t put them on paper.

It was my care to make my life illustrious not by words more than by deeds.

Even a poor man can receive honors.

If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.

Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music.

You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.

Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.

If you can't get a compliment any other way, pay yourself one.

Armor is heavy, yet it is a proud burden, and a man standeth straight in it.

I have done more for San Francisco than any of its old residents. Since I left there it has increased in population fully 300,000. I could have done more - I could have gone earlier - it was suggested.

The offspring of riches: Pride, vanity, ostentation, arrogance, tyranny

It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.

It shames the average man to be valued below his own estimate of his worth.

An occasional compliment is necessary to keep up one's self-respect.

I was born modest; not all over, but in spots.

I have stopped smoking now and then, for a few months at a time, but it was not on principle, it was only to show off; it was to pulverize those critics who said I was a slave to my habits and couldn't break my bonds.