Richard Attenborough

I very, very, very rarely lose my temper. I do get cross sometimes when encountering something that I feel is improper, that I feel is lacking in justice and equity, and this all sounds very pompous and over the top - but these are the things that really upset me: intolerance, prejudice etc. I suppose in more mundane matters, I'm impatient.

English Actor

Goldie Hawn

I wrote the book because I wanted to be able to share some things that I had learned and as pompous as that may sound, as you get to a certain point in life, you figure so what am I doing?

American Actress

Jean Pigozzi

For me to be pompous is the most horrible thing in the world. It's like putting a wall around you. It screws you up. You'd better be willing to change your views or adapt and be modern.

French Businessman

Marcus Brigstocke

I'm more pompous and self-assured and determined that if - you know - if the truth can be told so as to be understood, it will be believed.

English Comedian

Shelley Duvall

Take events in your life seriously, take work seriously, but don't take yourself seriously, or you'll become affected, pompous and boring.

Jeremy Scott

Posterity is something I'm a big fan of because that's how you leave your legacy. Not to sound pompous, but just to be truthful.

American Designer

Kevin Kline

Some of my favorite characters that I've played have been very pompous because I love making fun of pompous people.

American Actor

Barbara Stanwyck

Career is too pompous a word. It was a job, and I have always felt privileged to be paid for what I love doing.

Michael Beschloss

Not to be pompous about it - my thing in life is to write history and not to chat on TV 24 hours a day.

American Historian

Martin Freeman

Humour is - how do I say this without sounding pompous - it's a huge part of my life.

Using 'pompous' can express disapproval and insult someone's behavior or speech.

Negative Tone

'Pompous' implies the importance a person expresses is not deserved.

Unearned Importance

'Pompous' suggests using a level of formality that's excessive for the situation.

Over-Formality

Pompous language can be difficult to detect because it's not always loud or overt.

Subtlety in Tone

Be careful; confidence can be mistaken for a pompous attitude in certain contexts.

Misinterpretation

'Pompous' may sometimes be used humorously or affectionately among friends.

Not Always Negative

 Now, I know it's a bit pompous, my response, but it's an important distinction, because I don't believe that what we need is sensitivity training. We need leadership training, because, for example, when a professional coach or a manager of a baseball team or a football team -- and I work extensively in that realm as well -- makes a sexist comment, makes a homophobic statement,

Jackson Katz: Violence...

 then we add a human subject and some active verbs, the sentence springs back to life. "Writers who overload their sentences with nominalizations tend to sound pompous and abstract." Only one zombie noun -- the key word "nominalizations" --