Conceit and confidence are both of them cheats.—The first always imposes on itself; the second frequently deceives others.
—Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann (1728–95) Swiss Philosophical Writer, Naturalist, Physician
Conceit is God’s gift to little men.
—Bruce Fairchild Barton (1886–1967) American Author, Advertising Executive, Politician
Conceited men are a harmless kind of creatures, who, by their overweening self-respect, relieve others from the duty of respecting them at all.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Conceit is incompatible with understanding.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
I cannot call riches by a better name than the “baggage” of virtue; the Roman word is better, “impediment.” For as the baggage is to an army, so are riches to virtue. It cannot be spared or left behind, and yet it hindereth the march; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great riches there is no real use, except in the distribution; the rest is but conceit.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
If its colors were but fast colors, self-conceit would be a most comfortable quality.—But life is so humbling, mortifying, disappointing to vanity, that a great man’s idea of himself gets washed out of him by the time he is forty.
—Charles Buxton (1823–71) British Politician, Writer
A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.
—Alexander Hamilton (c.1757–1804) American Federalist Politician, Statesman
He who gives himself airs of importance exhibits the credentials of impotence.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
It is the admirer of himself, and not the admirer of virtue, that thinks himself superior to others.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
Conceit is the most contemptible, and one of the most odious qualities in the world.—It is vanity driven from all other shifts, and forced to appeal to itself for admiration.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.
—Unknown
No man was ever so much deceived by another as by himself.
—George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1746–1816) British Nobleman, Politician
It is possible to have a strong self-love without any self-satisfaction, rather with a self-discontent which is the more intense because one’s own little core of egoistic sensibility is a supreme care.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
None are so seldom found alone, and are so soon tired of their own company as those coxcombs who are on the best terms with themselves.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Narcissist: psychoanalytic term for the person who loves himself more than his analyst; considered to be the manifestation of a dire mental disease whose successful treatment depends on the patient learning to love the analyst more and himself less.
—Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst
At very best, a person wrapped up in himself makes a small package.
—Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American Baptist Minister
There is a difference between conceit and confidence. Conceit is bragging about yourself. Confidence means you believe you can get the job done.
—Johnny Unitas (1933–2002) American Football Player
Conceit is a strange disease. It makes everyone else sick except the person who has it.
—Unknown
People who do not know how to laugh are always pompous and self-conceited.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) English Novelist
Wind puffs up empty bladders; opinion, fools.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Narcissus does not fall in love with his reflection because it is beautiful, but because it is his. If it were his beauty that enthralled him, he would be set free in a few years by its fading.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
If you done it, it ain’t bragging.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Whatever accomplishment you boast of in the world, there is someone better than you.
—African Proverb
Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, brags of his substance: they are but beggars who can count their worth.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Whenever nature leaves a hole in a person’s mind, she generally plasters it over with a thick coat of self-conceit.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
The more anyone speaks of himself, the less he likes to hear another talked of.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
Nobody can be kinder than the narcissist while you react to life in his own terms.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
He who is enamored of himself will at least have the advantage of being inconvenienced by few rivals.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
I’ve never any pity for conceited people, because I think they carry their comfort about with them.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
As individuals and as a nation, we now suffer from social narcissism. The beloved Echo of our ancestors, the virgin America, has been abandoned. We have fallen in love with our own image, with images of our making, which turn out to be images of ourselves.
—Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American Historian, Academic, Attorney
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