"I have often wished I had time to cultivate modesty... but I am too busy thinking about myself"

This quote by Edith Sitwell is an amusing and self-deprecating talk about her own vanity. She acknowledges that modesty is a desirable quality, but that she is too preoccupied with her own thoughts and interests to make the effort to cultivate it. This recommends that she is aware of her own vanity, but is not always embarrassed of it. She is comfortable enough with her own self-centeredness to joke about it. This quote likewise suggests that she is a busy person, with little time to spare for cultivating modesty. It is an easy going comment on her own vanity, and a pointer that all of us have our own defects and weaknesses.