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The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, suggest a classification of vices and were enumerated in their present form by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century.
The capital sins are not to be confused with mortal sins. These sins can be much more fun.
Ranked in order of severity (worst sins listed first) as per Dante's Divine Comedy (in the Purgatorio), the seven deadly sins are:
* Pride (vanity) — a desire to be important or attractive to others or excessive love of self.
* Envy (jealousy) — resentment of others for their possessions (Dante: "Love of one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs")
* Wrath (anger) — inappropriate (unrighteous) feelings of hatred, revenge or even denial, as well as punitive desires outside of justice (Dante's description was "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite")
* Sloth (laziness) — idleness and wastefulness of time allotted
* Avarice (covetousness, greed) — a desire to possess more than one has need or use for (or, according to Dante, "excessive love of money and power")
* Gluttony — wasting of food, either through overindulgence in food, drink or intoxicants, misplaced desire for food for its sensuality, or withholding food from the needy ("excessive love of pleasure" was Dante's rendering)
* Lust — unlawful sexual desire, such as desiring sex with a person one is not married to.; fornication (Dante's criterion was "excessive love of others," thereby detracting from the love due God).
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Several of these sins interlink, and various attempts at causal hierarchy have been made. For example, pride (love of self out of proportion) is implied in gluttony (the over-consumption or waste of food), as well as sloth, envy, and most of the others. Each sin is an attenuation of the central Christian sin of failing to love God with all resources and to love fellows as much as self. The Scholastic theologians developed schema of attribute and substance of will to explain these sins.