Literary notes about conceited (AI summary)
In literature, "conceited" is frequently employed to characterize characters or attitudes marked by an inflated sense of self-worth and arrogance. Writers use the term to denote not just vanity but also to underscore broader themes of pride, self-importance, or even ironic humor. For instance, a character's self-assured manner is scrutinized in a probing inquiry about vanity ([1]), while logical discourse incorporates the term to distinguish genuine merit from mere conceit ([2], [3]). At times it serves as a wry self-reflection, as when characters admit their own conceit with a mix of humor and regret ([4], [5]), and in other passages it paints figures as unreasonably haughty or disdainful ([6], [7]). This versatile usage allows authors to explore the complexities of character and social behavior with a sharp, often satirical lens.
- He asked her if she thought he was conceited.
— from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Take the following Pairs of Premisses:— “None of my boys are conceited; None of my girls are greedy”.
— from Symbolic Logic by Lewis Carroll - This can be proved by reduction to Ferio , thus:— “No conceited persons are philosophers; Some not-gamblers are conceited.
— from Symbolic Logic by Lewis Carroll - It helps one, or should help one, to realise both, and not to be too conceited about either.
— from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde - Yes, I’ve been a conceited old ass, I can quite see that; but now I’m going to be a good Toad, and not
— from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame - Wolzogen, shrugging his shoulders and curling his lips, stepped silently aside, marveling at “the old gentleman’s” conceited stupidity.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - “That’s what I try to do,” said Isabel “but when you do that people call you conceited.”
— from The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1 by Henry James
