False modesty is the refinement of vanity. It is a lie.
The need for sociability induce man to be in touch with his fellow men. However, this need might not ("ne saurait", Fr. ) find its full (or complete) satisfaction in the conventional (or superficial, - "conventionnel", Fr. ) and deceitful world, in which (or where) everyone is mainly (or mostly) trying to assert oneself in front of others ("devant les autres", Fr. ), to appear, and hoping to find in society ("mondaine", Fr. ) relationships some advantages for his interest and vanity (or vainglory or conceit", Fr. ).
Life, by which I mean my life, is a great, or probably the greatest, design, from its very beginning to its end, the end that, I think, is unlikely to exist. Each and every bit of life is a part of the design. Design exists as the consequence of the ultimate questioner's vanity. And my mission is to find the most fundamental truth, which probably and exclusively involves the nature of the existence of the ultimate questioner.
The best way to make a sort of peace, a fragile armistice to be sure, but precious all the same, with men, officers or not, is to let them bask and wallow in childish self-glorification. There’s no such thing as intelligent vanity. It’s an instinct. And you’ll never find a man who is not first and formenost vain. The role of admiring doormat is about the only one that one man is glad to tolerate in another. With these soldiers I had no need to tax my imagination.