Theophrastus, a student of Aristotle, in the 4th century BC wrote a treatise under the simple title “Characters”, where he described 30 types of human personality: talker, pretender, braggart, coward, etc. The science of psychology did not yet exist, oh the inner world of man was guessed, but vaguely. Vivid external actions were qualified as manifestations of a person’s character. And of course, it’s the vices – and what could be brighter? - determined the type of this character. In the 17th century, Jean de La Bruyère, from the height of the philosophy of enlightenment, wrote his treatise “Characters, or Manners of the Present Century,” ridiculing the bad inclinations of French society. He proposed his own classification of vices, different from Theophrastus’s. The number of vices is growing, and it is unlikely that scientists, philosophers, theologians and cultural experts will come to a consensus on how many vices there are in the world. The easiest way is to stand in an edifying position and read the moral. But the author Nikolai Nikulin, in the spirit of Renaissance frivolity, in which the philosopher Erasmus of Rotterdam lavished praise on stupidity, undertakes to ironically comprehend the nature of vices, generously scattering examples from literature and cinema. Nikolai Nikulin is a journalist and film critic. Graduated from GAUGN (Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and IZHLT with a specialization in literary creativity.