• The worst sort of vainglory, however, according to Thomas Aquinas, occurs when we fail to give due glory to God as the source of our good.

    Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies
    Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

  • In vainglory we seek only the “manifestation of excellence,” that is, we want more than anything to be well known and widely known.


    Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies
    Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

  • Unlike the vainglorious, however, the ambitious seek honor not from just anyone, but rather from those with the requisite taste or expertise. In pride, we desire to be genuinely superior; in ambition, we want to be respected by “the right people.”

    Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies
    Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

  • If we had a chance to have some outstanding quality, which would, however, remain hidden, the prideful would be tempted, but the glory-lovers would walk away. The whole point for the vainglorious is that others take notice. When we are plagued by this vice, we need people to nod and smile approvingly when we walk by. Vainglory disposes us to be more concerned with our reputation (what others think about us) than with what we really are. For the vainglorious, image is everything.

    Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies
    Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

  • The vainglorious, on the other hand, do not aspire to something because it is excellent. Rather, they seek whatever will bring in the most public applause, whether deserving or not. Pride is a desire for genuine status; vainglory, a desire for recognition and acclaim.

    Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies
    Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

  • When we are afraid that we will not be accepted by others, that we won’t fit in or live up to others’ expectations, and thus do our best to hide behind a falsely inflated reputation—this is vainglory.


    Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies
    Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

  • He never succumbed, due to old age, to extravagance in food, nor did he change his mode of dress because of frailty of the body, nor even bathe his feet with water, and yet in every way he remained free of injury. For he possessed eyes undimmed and sound, and he saw clearly. He lost none of his teeth—they simply had been worn to the gums because of the old man’s great age. He also retained health in his feet and hands, and generally he seemed brighter and of more energetic strength than those who make use of baths and a variety of foods and clothing.

    —Athanasius, The Life of Antony

  • None of us is judged for what he does not know, any more than one is counted blessed because he is learned and possesses knowledge. It is rather in regard to these questions that each faces judgment: whether he has kept the faith and sincerely observed the commandments.

    —Athanasius, The Life of Antony

  • The desire for a woman, or another sordid pleasure, we shall not merely control—rather, we shall turn from it as something transitory, forever doing battle and looking toward the day of judgment. For the larger fear and dread of the torments always destroys pleasure’s smooth allure, and rouses the declining soul.

    —Athanasius, The Life of Antony

  • And let us not consider, when we look at the world, that we have given up things of some greatness, for even the entire earth is itself quite small in relation to all of heaven.

    —Athanasius, The Life of Antony