Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.
Conceit
Strong conceit is a kind of mental rudder which reason should hold for the purpose of steering the mind into its right courses.
—Anonymous
Deep conceits, like maggots, breed in carrion.
—Earl of Dorset
Talk about conceit as much as you like, it is to human character what salt is to the ocean; it keeps it sweet and renders it endurable. Say rather it is like natural unguent of the sea fowl’s plumage, which enables him to shed the rain that falls on him and the waves in which he dips. When one has had all his conceit taken out of him, when he has lost all his illusions, his feathers will soon soak through, and he will fly no more.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes
Conceit is just as natural a thing to human minds as a centre is to a circle.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes