Reading stories is bad enough but writing them is worse. — L. M. Montgomery. Canadian novelist (1874–1942) Writing
It's not vanity to know your own good points. It would just be stupidity if you didn't; It's only vanity when you get puffed up about them.
Proverbs are all very fine when there's nothing to worry you, but when you're in real trouble, they're not a bit of help.
Anyone who has gumption knows what it is, and anyone who hasn't can never know what it is. So there is no need of defining it.