The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance.
—Samuel Butler
It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.
—Mark Twain
As she lay dying, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour — the official chief mistress of Louis XV, King of France — summoned her last strength and called to God, "Wait a second," as she dabbed her cheeks with rouge.
—Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes
It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.
—Charlotte Bronte