I am convinced that it is very common indeed, that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonimously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.

From “Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen

Vanity and pride plague our daily life. Jane Austen was an observer of human nature and how people interact with each other.  Her sweet prose has the elegant trimmings of the Georgian era and the criticisms of a Hindu guru, “very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other ….” Conceit can crawl into our personalities like a scorpion—and bite us.