November 11, 2021

Here is Mary Bennet parsing the difference between pride and vanity in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. 

“Pride is a very common failing, I believe…that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or the other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”

St. Paul takes both pride and vanity to task. “As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point.” (1 Corinthians 4:3)

That sounds awfully nice, doesn’t it?

“Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Proper 29 – BCP)