Eighteenth century wisdom

"Vanity working on a weak mind produces every kind of mischief."

Mr. Knightley to Emma in Jane Austen's "Emma"

He best deserves a knightly crest,
Who slays the evils that infest
His soul within. If victor here,
He soon will find a wider sphere.
The world is cold to him that pleads;
The world bows low to knightly deeds.

-Cornwall on the Hudson, N. Y.
taken from Knight if the XIX Century by E. P. Roe