quotations about flattery
The encomium of one incapable of flattery is indeed flattering.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
letter to Thomas Jefferson Hogg, Dec. 28, 1810
Flatterers and dogs soil their own masters.
GERMAN PROVERB
A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool.
EDWARD BULWER LYTTON
Pelham
The lie that flatters I abhor the most.
WILLIAM COWPER
Table Talk
Who flatters, is of all mankind the lowest.
Save him who courts the flattery.
HANNAH MORE
Daniel
Flattery is the lime to catch a human fly.
TAN KHENG YEANG
Reduced Reflections
Flattery is like cologne water, to be smelt of, not swallowed.
BOB PHILLIPS
Phillips' Book of Great Thoughts and Funny Sayings
A flatterer never seems absurd:
The flatter'd always takes his word.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Poor Richard's Almanack, 1740
Excellent flatterers welcome attentive audiences; mighty potentates enjoy public praise. In the most pleasing situation, a flatterer would genuinely admire the flatteree, please that person, please other present company, be pleased to stagger rivals, and get something out of it: applause, promotion, a favor, reciprocal praise. Flattery is as social as a banquet.
WILLIS GOTH REGIER
In Praise of Flattery
I have been complimented many times and they always embarrass me; I always feel that they have not said enough.
MARK TWAIN
speech, Sep. 23, 1907
Crows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need of them; but flatterers mar the soul of the living, and her eyes they blind.
EPICTETUS
Fragments
Were there no fools, there would be no flatterers.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
Flattery is a sort of bad money to which our vanity gives currency.
FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
Moral Maxims
Heart-stopping envy is the sincerest form of flattery.
ANNA GODBERSEN
The Luxe
'Tis an old maxim in the schools,
That flattery's the food of fools;
Yet now and then your men of wit
Will condescend to take a bit.
JONATHAN SWIFT
Cadenus and Vanessa
When flattery is misplaced it is fatal to a flatterer.
WILLIS GOTH REGIER
In Praise of Flattery
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Flattery is often a traffic of mutual meanness, where, although both parties intend deception, neither are deceived; since words that cost little are exchanged for hopes that cost less. But we must be careful how we flatter fools too little, or wise men too much; for the flatterer must act the very reverse of the physician, and administer the strongest dose only to the weakest patient.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Flattery is sweet food to those who can swallow it.
DANISH PROVERB
Flattery is the chief tool of all confidence men.
NAPOLEON HILL
How to Sell Your Way Through Life