Alfred Adler

"The deprecation tendency is an attempt to create the feeling of superiority by the degradation of one's fellows. The recognition of another's worth is equivalent to an insult to the vain one's personality."

"Consequently among adults we will find people who are anxious to have their own way much more frequently than those who desire to help their fellows. Some go so far in their vanity that they are incapable of doing anything which another has suggested to them, even though this is the most self-understood procedure in the world, and really signifies their own happiness."

"It is quite a diffe ent thing when the reputation of a man is justified by his services to others. His honor then comes to him of itself, and if it is opposed by others, their Opposition has little weight. He can remain quietly in the possession of his honor because he has not staked everything upon vanity."

"The acquisitive man, whose look is never directed toward the necessities and needs of others, and to whom the misfortune of others is a joy, has no place in his system for reconciliation and peace with life. He demands the unbending submission of others to laws which his egoism has dictated. He demands a different heaven from the one which exists, a different way of thinking and feeling; in short, his dissatisfaction and immodesty are as execrable as everything else which is characteristic of him."

"The various ornaments which such individuals carry indicate their vanity just as much as so many standards, belligerent emblems, or weapons, whose purpose, when rightly understood, is to scare off the enemy. Sometimes this vanity is expressed by erotic emblems, or by tattooing which seems frivolous to us."

"Shameless behavior lends the feeling of greatness and superiority to some; others again have this same feeling when they appear hard, brutal, stubborn, or isolated. In reality these may be individuals who are closer to tenderness than to bad manners, whose quondam brutality is but a pose."

"Italian criminal psychologist has said, "when the ideal attitude of a human being goes beyond a certain degree, when his philanthropy and humanity assume conspicuous proportions, we may well be distrustful.""

"We have already noted that vanity likes to mask itself. Vain people who would like to rule others must first catch them in order to bind them to themselves. We must not, therefore, allow ourselves to be entirely duped by the amiability, or friendliness, and willingness to make contacts, which a Person may show; nor must we be deceived into believing that he may not nevertheless be a belligerent aggressor who is looking for conquests, and to the maintenance of his personal superiority."

"It is very interesting to see how in fairy tales, as well as in the overheated psychic striving of vain individuals, the striving for power assumes the expression of a desire for the ideal of God-likeness. One does not have to search far to find that a vain person acts exactly as though he were God (which happens in the most serious cases) , or he behaves himself as though he were God's lieutenant, or again, he expresses wishes and desires which only God could fulfill."

"The Bible, to be sure, is a wonderful work which one can constantly read and reread with astonishment at its perspicacity, after one's judgment has matured. But let us not teach it to children, at least not without a commentary, to the end that a child may learn to be content in this life, without assuming all manner of magical powers, and demanding that everyone be his slave, ostensibly because he was created in the image of God!"

"In the even tenor of life it may often not be evident, yet when a man suffers, or feels himself oppressed, or lacks for money, food, dress, or warmth, when his hope for the future is darkened, and he sees no way out of his unfortunate situation, then envy appears."

"One speaks of "green" or "pale" envy, pointing to the fact that envy influences the circulation of the blood. The organic expression of envy is found in the peripheral contraction of the capillary arteries."

"Anyone who has been envious all his life is useless for communal life. He will be interested solely in taking something away from another, in depriving him in some fashion, and in disturbing him Simultaneously he will have the tendency to fix alibis for the goals which he has not attained, and blame others for his failures....He will not be moved by the fact that someone else suffers because of his actions. Envy may go so far as to lead a man to feel pleasure in the pain of his neighbor."

"It bears witness to the speaker's lack of empathy in judgment and critique of others, when he answers every question with a catch-word phrase, or a slang expression, and thinks and acts according to the cliches of the tabloids and the movies. Needless to say there are many people who cannot think in any other way, and in this way, give evidence of their psychic retardation."

"There are some among them who are childishly jolly, and have something very touching in their childishness They approach their tasks not by evasion, but in a certain playful, childish way and solve them as though they were games or puzzles. There is perhaps no type which is more sympathetic and beautiful in its attitude."

"It is quite natural that so deeply rooted a phenomenon as an affect or an emotion, shows its effect upon the body, since body and soul are so intimately alloyed. The physical phenomena which accompany the presence of affects and emotions are indicated by various changes in the blood vessels and in the respiratory apparatus, as in the appearance of blushing, pallor, rapid pulse, and variations of the respiratory rate."

"Anger is an affect which is the veritable epitome of the striving for power and domination. This emotion betrays very dearly that its purpose is the rapid and forceful destruction of every obstacle in the way of its angry bearer."

"The affect of sadness occurs when one cannot console himself for a loss or deprivation. Sadness, along with the other affects, is a compensation for a feeling of displeasure or weakness, and amounts to an attempt to secure a better situation."