"Vanitas vanitatum" has rung in the ears
Of gentle and simple for thousands of years;
The wail read more

"Vanitas vanitatum" has rung in the ears
Of gentle and simple for thousands of years;
The wail still is heard, yet its notes never scare
Either simple or gentle from Vanity Fair.

It beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where it is
kept is "lighter than vanity."

It beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where it is
kept is "lighter than vanity."

Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux.

Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux.

No man thinks there is much ado about nothing when the ado is about himself.

No man thinks there is much ado about nothing when the ado is about himself.

We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.

We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.

There are grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in
concealing it.

There are grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in
concealing it.

It is difficult to esteem a man as highly as he would wish.
[Fr., Il est difficile d'estimer quelqu'un read more

It is difficult to esteem a man as highly as he would wish.
[Fr., Il est difficile d'estimer quelqu'un comme il veut l'etre.]

Hoy-day!
What a sweep of vanity comes this way!

Hoy-day!
What a sweep of vanity comes this way!

Vain? Let it be so! Nature was her teacher,
What if a lovely and unsistered creature
Loved read more

Vain? Let it be so! Nature was her teacher,
What if a lovely and unsistered creature
Loved her own harmless gift of pleasing feature.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.,