VANITY

Jor-El :

[in the Fortress of Solitude]  
You... enjoyed it.

Superman :
I don't know what to say, Father. 

I'm afraid I just got carried away.

Jor-El : 
I anticipated this, my son. I...

Superman : 

[surprised]  
You couldn't have! 

You couldn't have imagined...

Jor-El : 
...How good it felt.

[Clark nods]

Jor-El : 
You are revealed to The World. 
Very well, so be it. 
But you must still keep your secret identity.

Superman : 
But why?

Jor-El : 
The reasons are two. 

First, you cannot serve humanity twenty-eight hours a day.

Superman :
Twenty-four.

Jor-El : 
Or twenty-four, as it is in Earth time. 

Your help would be called for endlessly, even for those problems which human beings could solve themselves. 

It is their habit to abuse their resources in such a way.

Superman :
And, secondly?

Jor-El : 
Secondly, your enemies will discover their only way to hurt you: by hurting the people you care for.

Superman : 
Thank you, Father.

Jor-El : 
Lastly... Do not punish yourself for your feelings of vanity. 

Simply learn to control them. 

It is an affliction common to all, even on Krypton. 

Our destruction could have been avoided had it not been for the vanity of some who considered us indestructible. 

Were it not for vanity, why... at this very moment...

[sadly]

Jor-El : 
I could embrace you in my arms. My son.

[Kal-El reaches yearningly toward his father's image; Jor-El fades, leaving Kal-El alone]