quotations about flattery
We must suit the flattery to the mind and taste of the recipient. We do not put essences into hogsheads, or porter into phials. Delicate minds may be disgusted by compliments that would please a grosser intellect, as some fine ladies, who would be shocked at the idea of a dram, will not refuse a liqueur. Some indeed there are, who profess to despise all flattery, but even these are, nevertheless, to be flattered, by being told that they do despise it.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Because flattery can be abused, all flattery is suspicious, but that is not flattery's fault. It is a skill, a tool, no more nor less than speech is a tool; it can build or break.
WILLIS GOTH REGIER
In Praise of Flattery
The doors of the Temple of Flattery are so low that they can only be entered by crawling.
ELIZA COOK
Diamond Dust
Flattery is the sign of the Inn of which Duplicity is host.
PURITAN PROVERB
Did we not flatter ourselves, the flattery of others could never hurt us.
FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
Moral Maxims
At its best, flattery is truth well dressed, and it is best dressed with fine see-through fabrics. Honest flattery can caress a lover, cover up a gaffe, and muffle aggression.
WILLIS GOTH REGIER
In Praise of Flattery
To be most effective, flattery is always best applied with a trowel.
ALAN BRADLEY
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
Remember, man does not live on bread alone: sometimes he needs a little buttering up.
JOHN C. MAXWELL
Be a People Person
It requires a great genius to flatter successfully a great personage. The common arts of adulation are thrown away upon the exalted. They are so accustomed to these that they take little notice.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
Flattery succeeds best on minds previously occupied by conceit.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
In fine, it is wholesome wisdom to fear flattery and guard oneself warily; for such a lie is not only a foe but ambushed. And as a man truly can have no enemy harder to combat than himself, so there is nothing in himself more difficult to overthrow than the sly whisper of a soft falsehood.
JAMES VILA BLAKE
"Of Flattery", Essays
Flattery has the weakness of all lies, the meanness of treacherous ones and the cowardice of small ones. For seldom can it plead great occasion or object, being commonly no more than a complaisance; but if it have an object, then flattery is the taking crafty advantage of weakness, which honor holds odious. Either way, being a lie, it has the seeds of death.
JAMES VILA BLAKE
"Of Flattery", Essays
Although a skillful flatterer is a most delightful companion if you have him all to yourself, his taste becomes very doubtful when he takes to complimenting other people.
CHARLES DICKENS
Nicholas Nickleby
The most that can be said of flattery is that it is sometimes a cheap psychological trick with which charlatans and dishonest people lull others into a state of carelessness while they pick their pockets.
NAPOLEON HILL
How to Sell Your Way Through Life
Men sometimes think they hate flattery, when they only hate the manner of it.
ELIZA COOK
Diamond Dust
The heart has no avenue so open as that of flattery, which, like some enchantment, lays all its guards asleep.
GEORGES EDMOND HOWARD
Apothegms and Maxims for the Good Conduct of Life
He who says he hates all kinds of flattery, and says so in earnest, has undoubtedly not as yet become acquainted with all kinds of it, whether in substance or in form.
GEORG CHRISTOPH LICHTENBERG
The Reflections of Lichtenberg
The distinction between praise and flattery is the distinction between good and evil. Praise is motivated by sincerity and flattery by deceit.
TAN KHENG YEANG
Reduced Reflections
The most certain way to check flattery in others is to appear insensible of it.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
Some persons are insensible to flattering words, but who can resist the flattery of modest imitation?
ARTHUR HELPS
Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd