Pride and vanity are two human emotions that are very similar to each other. Pride can be a good thing to have, as always being humble is not going to help us achieve or follow our dreams. While pride is the belief in one’s abilities or attractiveness, there is often a false sense of pride about one’s abilities too. Some say that an excessive feeling of pride is what constitutes vanity. However, the difference between vanity and pride is not so simple, as will be clear after reading this article.
Key Takeaways
- Pride is the belief in one’s abilities or attractiveness, and can be both positive and negative.
- Vanity is an inflated belief in one’s abilities or attractiveness and is considered a negative trait.
- While pride can help us strive for better things in life, unjustified boasting about one’s abilities is vanity.
Pride
Pride is a feeling or emotion that could be both positive and negative. It relates to one’s belief in their own abilities and attractiveness. Religions across cultures teach people to be humble, and they consider pride a sin. Pride is our love of our excellence or abilities, but along with this love for ourselves comes negative feelings about others.
It is good to be humble, but humbleness only teaches us to be subservient. We cannot think or aspire to better things in life if we remain humble all the time. It is good to be nice to others and not show pride even when we are extremely rich or beautiful. We could be humble and yet remain proud of our achievements. As long as we do not brag or boast about ourselves in front of others, our pride is based upon truth, and we still remain humble in the eyes of others. If a father says he is proud of his son’s achievements, it only reflects his pleasure about the abilities of his son, and pride in this sense is not a bad thing.
Vanity
Vanity is a feeling that has negative connotations. If you are seen as boasting about your abilities all the time or about your attractiveness in front of others, you are being self-idolatry. In Christianity, special skill or ability is believed to be a divine grace of God and not something to boast about. Vanity is considered excessive pride in one’s abilities or attractiveness and thus a sin in Christianity. Vanity has always been considered a vice. The opposite of humility is vanity. You know you are experiencing vanity shown by someone else when they behave in such a manner that others are not important and it is only them who is important.
Difference between Pride and Vanity
- Belief in one’s own abilities or attractiveness is said to be pride.
- Inflated belief in one’s own abilities or attractiveness is called vanity.
- Pride is a good thing to have in life, though religions teach us to be humble and avoid pride, as it is considered a sin to boast about oneself.
- It is pride that makes us do better and aim for better things in life.
- Unjustified boasting about one’s own abilities is vanity.
Artists have portrayed vanity as a woman looking at herself in admiration in a mirror that is held by the devil.
