Ostentation Quotes

“Barbarian that I am, I had eaten all of it. It had tasted quite nice too. Still, I took note of this fact and resigned myself to throw away half of a perfectly good cheese if it was set in front of me. Such is the price of civilization.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear

“He appeared to spend a lot of money on really bad clothes.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead

“A taste for ostentation is rarely associated in the same souls with a taste for honesty”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“A man must have a less than ordinary share of sense that would furnish such plain and common rooms with silver-footed couches and purple coverlets and gold and silver plate.”
― Plutarch, Plutarch's Lives: Volume I

“Actually, typefaces and racing bikes are very much alike. Both are ideas as well as machines, and neither should be burdened with excess drag or baggage. Pictures of pumping feet will not make the type go faster, any more than smoke trails, pictures of rocket ships or imitation lightning bolts tied to the frame will improve the speed of the bike.”
― Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

“Showiness has become the malady of our times; haven’t wedding cards come to resemble wall posters. None seems to mind that the card and the copy don’t jell at all; maybe, it’s all prognostic, who knows?”
― B.S. Murthy, Crossing the Mirage - Passing through Youth

“Dorabel was now as pleased as a half-crown. Everyone knew her. With her scarlet cap and bright yellow dress she had, and her great height, she walked about like a petrol pump in a land where houses and garments alike seemed to grow out of the colouring of the place; and she had notions about that house of hers that made a filling station seem demure. She thought the other houses about as elegant as turnip-tops, and was proud of the stir she made with hers.”
― Nan Shepherd, The Grampian Quartet: The Quarry Wood: The Weatherhouse: A Pass in the Grampians: The Living Mountain

“Compete in good deeds and not in ostentation.”
― Mehdi Kermad