"Vanitas vanitatum" has rung in the ears
Of gentle and simple for thousands of years;
The wail read more

"Vanitas vanitatum" has rung in the ears
Of gentle and simple for thousands of years;
The wail still is heard, yet its notes never scare
Either simple or gentle from Vanity Fair.

Sooth'd with the sound, the king grew vain:
Fought all his battles o'er again;
And thrice he read more

Sooth'd with the sound, the king grew vain:
Fought all his battles o'er again;
And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew the slain.

Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursel's as ithers see us!
It wad read more

Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursel's as ithers see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
And foolish notion.

Hoy-day!
What a sweep of vanity comes this way!

Hoy-day!
What a sweep of vanity comes this way!

Methinks I am a prophet new inspired
And thus, expiring, do foretell of him:
His rash fierce read more

Methinks I am a prophet new inspired
And thus, expiring, do foretell of him:
His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last,
For violent fires soon burn out themselves;
Small show'rs last long, but sudden storms are short;
He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes;
With eager feeding doth choke the feeder;
Light vanity, insatiate cormorant,
Consuming means, soon preys upon itself.

What is your sex's earliest, latest care,
Your heart's supreme ambition? To be fair.

What is your sex's earliest, latest care,
Your heart's supreme ambition? To be fair.

Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux.

Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux.

The only cure for vanity is laughter, and the only fault that's laughable is vanity.

The only cure for vanity is laughter, and the only fault that's laughable is vanity.

There are no grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it

There are no grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it