"I am more considerate to the vain than to the proud.

Is wounded vanity not the mother of all tragedies? But where pride is wounded there surely grows up something better than pride. If life is to be pleasant to watch, its play must be well-acted: for that, however, good actors are needed. I found all vain people to be good actors: they act and desire that others shall want to watch them—all their spirit is in this desire. They act themselves, they invent themselves; I like to watch life in their vicinity—it cures melancholy. I am considerate to the vain because they are physicians to my melancholy and hold me fast to mankind as to a play. And further: who can estimate the full depth of the vain man’s modesty? I love and pity him on account of his modesty. He wants to learn belief in himself from you; he feeds upon your glances, he eats praise out of your hands. He believes even your lies when you lie favorably to him: for his heart sighs in its depths: ‘What am I?’ And if the virtue that is unconscious of itself be the true virtue: well, the vain man is unconscious of his modesty!”

—Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra