80 Quotes About Flattery

It does good to no woman to be flattered [by a man] who does not intend to marry her; and it is madness in all women to let a secret love kindle within them, which, if unreturned and unknown, must devour the life that feeds it; and, if discovered and responded to, must lead, ignis-fatuus-like, into miry wilds whence there is no extrication. Unknown

I cannot encourage any fabrication even for the sake of making people feel good. If I were to fabricate consciously and knowingly, I would not only be ordaining myself their enemy, but also ordaining myself God's enemy. Criss Jami

I earnestly wish to point out in what true dignity and human happiness consists. I wish to persuade women to endeavor to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonymous with epithets of weakness, and that those beings are only the objects of pity, and that kind of love which has been termed its sister, will soon become objects of contempt. Mary Wollstonecraft

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, but worship is the greatest form of adoration. Jayce ONeal

Any halfway clever devil would decorate the highway to Hell as beautiful as possible. Criss Jami

The most preposterous notion that Homo sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history. Robert A. Heinlein

Some say that a woman that trades her body for money is a whore, if that is the case, then a woman that trades her body for flattery and kind words is just a whore that is not paid very well. Carl R White

Some say that a woman that trades her body for money is a whore, if that is the case, then a woman that trades her body for flattery and kind words is just a whore that is not paid as well. Carl R White

Then, in the spirit of benevolence, "Your face is well balanced." She slapped him encouragingly on the back, "You have very long eyelashes. Like a cow. C.S. Pacat

What did you do?" Kate asked." Nothing. We're inside the wards." Simon laughed and drank the elixir. She looked around with surprise. "How can you tell? At night? In the snow?"" That tree." He indicated an ash tree standing amidst other ash trees." It looks like a thousand other trees."" No, it looks like you." Simon took a shallow, pained breath, but smiled. "It's my marker." Both Kate and Malcolm stared at the tree. Kate cocked her hip. "It looks like me? A tree? That's flattering."" Yes. See how the curves--" Simon worked his hands in an hourglass shape. "It looks like you. Clay Griffith

People don't care about being duped as long as they're happy, which is the shortest form of happiness; hence 'self-duprication' becomes a habit. Criss Jami

Pretentiousness isn't always just big words and meaningless jargon, but also pretty words that either when put into action don't mean beans or hurt you in the long run. Oftentimes, the former appeals to the intellect whereas the latter appeals to the heart. Criss Jami

Is not the true respect and worship of God the exercising of our power in such a way that we are also respected? Shannon L. Alder

The saying 'flattery gets you everywhere' appalls me. If you're going to pay someone a compliment make sure it's 100% genuine or not at all.- Flattery is deception and who wants to be lied to? Miya Yamanouchi

I really feel sorry for the many men who are surrounded by people who flatter them all the time. In Chinese we have a golden proverb: "The true friend is the one who shows you how to bow down. Because you cannot enter the cave of treasures without bowing at the opening. And the true enemy is the one who flatters you. Because you cannot enter the cave of treasures standing tall with pride." At the end of the day, it is those that flatter you who keep you away from the true treasures in your life. In the culture we all live in today, we are taught to surround ourselves by people "who believe in us". That is true to some extent. But in reality, there are many times when the people around us ought to slap us in the face because we are being idiots. This seems to be particularly prevalent amongst men. In their quest to build a kingdom, they surround themselves with peasants. But this is not how to build a kingdom. In order to build a kingdom, surround yourself with knights. True friends who will protect you, even if it means protecting you from your own wayward self. . C. Joybell C.

You are the belle of the ball tonight.” He said as he moved in closer. “How can you be so sinfully beautiful Mrs. Norman? Barry Gray

I become quite melancholy and deeply grieved to see men behave to each other as they do. Everywhere I find nothing but base flattery, injustice , self-interest, deceit and roguery. I cannot bear it any longer; I'm furious; and my intention is to break with all mankind. Unknown

What infinite heart's-ease Must kings neglect, that private men enjoy! And what have kings, that privates have not too, Save ceremony, save general ceremony? And what art thou, thou idle ceremony? What kind of god art thou, that suffer'st more Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers? What are thy rents? what are thy comings in? O ceremony, show me but thy worth! What is thy soul of adoration? Art thou aught else but place, degree and form, Creating awe and fear in other men? Wherein thou art less happy being fear'd Than they in fearing. What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet, But poison'd flattery? O, be sick, great greatness, And bid thy ceremony give thee cure! Think'st thou the fiery fever will go out With titles blown from adulation? Will it give place to flexure and low bending? Canst thou, when thou command'st the beggar's knee, Command the health of it? No, thou proud dream, That play'st so subtly with a king's repose; I am a king that find thee, and I know' Tis not the balm, the sceptre and the ball, The sword, the mace, the crown imperial, The intertissued robe of gold and pearl, The farced title running 'fore the king, The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp That beats upon the high shore of this world, No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony, Not all these, laid in bed majestical, Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave, Who with a body fill'd and vacant mind Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread; Never sees horrid night, the child of hell, But, like a lackey, from the rise to set Sweats in the eye of Phoebus and all night Sleeps in Elysium; next day after dawn, Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse, And follows so the ever-running year, With profitable labour, to his grave: And, but for ceremony, such a wretch, Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep, Had the fore-hand and vantage of a king. The slave, a member of the country's peace, Enjoys it; but in gross brain little wots What watch the king keeps to maintain the peace, Whose hours the peasant best advantages. William Shakespeare

The criminal (as slave) often seeks a person of great perfection (and here, as a judge of people's imperfection, the criminal is much harsher than a good man), because he so wants to obtain trust from outside (not through an inner change of mind). If he believes he has found such a person, he gives himself up to him in the most complete slavery, and he searches in an importunate manner for people whom he could serve as a slave. He also wants to live as a slave so as never to be alone. Otto Weininger

You can receive all the compliments in the world, but that won't do a thing unless you believe it yourself. Criss Jami

I don't like compliments and I don't see why a man should think he is pleasing a woman enormously when he says to her a whole heap of things that he doesn't mean. Oscar Wilde

As for those who spite you, and seemingly just because, it's only evident that they're learning from you. Maybe you taste bad - kind of like medicine, kind of like truth - and to them, you're thought unsafe. There is flattery in being chewed out and spit up. Humans have always had a hard time digesting foreign things. Criss Jami

Presenting a humble façade gains trust; flattery appeals to ego; combine the two to gain an ego-based trust within someone, and you will find in your hands a judgement clouding tool second only to love. A.J. Darkholme

When a cat flatters ... he is not insincere: you may safely take it for real kindness. Walter Savage Landor

When you're appeasing too much, you might be egotistically over-estimating everyone's need for your approval. Criss Jami

Aphorism 129:I would have every thought stoop and touch the Earth but that I already know the impossibility of the effort. A thought seems to have a life of its own and would rather leave itself open to flattering interpretations. Matt Berry

Assuming what people want is about as controlled as using fireworks to start a fire. Criss Jami

Misguided good men are more dangerous than honest bad men. It is because they are seen as good that, in and by good conscience, the mob will always, stubbornly back them without question. Criss Jami

What separates us into engineers and robots, puppeteers and puppets, kings and pawns, is not the status we hold at any given time among others - status is irrelevant; it is the level of ever-present awareness we have of a grey-matter tailor's tools [of flattery, persuasion, and cunning.] A.J. Darkholme

But unlike Jack, Bobby had not been groomed to be a candidate, and he was constitutionally incapable of the flattery and false praise with which politicians like Johnson got others to do their daily bidding. Jonathan Darman

The trouble with most of us is that we'd rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism. Norman Vincent Peale

In every reign there comes one night of greatest blackness, when a King must send away his court of flatterers and servants, and sit alone in the dark with the beast called truth. In the gloom of the grand hall, Slately could hear it breathe. Truth at court was treated as if it were a precious commodity. It was hoarded, coveted, bartered for. Certainly this analogy applied to lies; his courtiers accepted his lies as currency of the realm. He handed them lies in large denominations, and they returned him his change in small ones. Oh, but truth was something different. Something alive and immortal. By light of day it was only a little butterfly: pretty, elusive, easily crushed, and utterly unable to defend itself. Most nights, too, it slept harmlessly. One could wave it away for a very long time. But on the nights it did not sleep, neither did the King. Rob Balder

Every sexual sin begins with flattery. Sunday Adelaja

If a story is w/out flaws or doubts, it is flattery or even brainwashing. You should read it as if drinking a glass of water. But be prepared - you would not remember its taste. Vinko Vrbanic

One of the most distinct features of this whole human history is god flattery! People never get tired of buttering every kind of gods in the hope of getting earthly benefit or obtaining heavenly plunder! Man is no doubt a tireless flunkey! Mehmet Murat Ildan

Nice words and nice appearance doesn't conclude that someone is nice, i believe that the nicer you look, the more deceptive you appear. Michael Bassey Johnson

To flatter a young man, tell him that you thought that he was older than he is. To flatter an old woman, tell her that you thought that she was younger than she is. Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Try not to see it as an invitation to compete. Andrena Sawyer

He stepped down, avoiding any long look at her as one avoids long looks at the sun, but seeing her as one sees the sun, without looking. Leo Tolstoy

There really is no sense in pretending to be normal. Just be you because the moment you do, weirder things happen. Crazy comes back into fashion and every woman has to go out and find her some. Shannon L. Alder

What Melanie did was no more than all Southern girls were taught to do: to make those about them feel at ease and pleased with themselves. It was this happy feminine conspiracy which made Southern society so pleasant. Women knew that a land in which men were contented, uncontradicted, and safe in possession of unpunctured vanity was likely to be a very pleasant place for women to live. So from the cradle to the grave, women strove to make men pleased with themselves, and the satisfied men repaid lavishly with gallantry and adoration. In fact, men willingly gave the ladies everything in the world, except credit for having intelligence. Scarlett exercised the same charms as Melanie but with a studied artistry and consummate skill. The difference between the two girls lay in the fact that Melanie spoke kind and flattering words from a desire to make people happy, if only temporarily, and Scarlett never did it except to further her own aims. . Margaret Mitchell

The thought that is billed at the price of fear and flattery is as inconsolable as that which is paid for at the price of gold. - On Fear and Thought. Lamine Pearlheart

Heart-stopping envy is the sincerest form of flattery. Anna Godbersen

A rich man's joke is always funny. Thomas Edward Brown

Be advised that all flatterers live at the expense of those who listen to them. Unknown

In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath. Samuel Johnson

Let us now praise famous men and our fathers that begat us. Bible

Nobody roots for Goliath. Wilt Chamberlain

Self-praise is no recommendation. Old Saying

Among the smaller duties in life I hardly know any one more important than that of not praising when praise is not due. Sydney Smith

Praise to the undeserving is severe satire. Benjamin Franklin

It's pleasant to hear these nice words while I'm still alive. I'd rather have the taffy than the epitaphy. Chauncey Depew

Commendation n: the tribute that we pay to achievements that resemble but do not equal our own. Ambrose Bierce

The meanest most contemptible kind of praise is that which first speaks well of a man and then qualifies it with a 'but'. Henry Ward Beecher

He who gladly does without the praise of the crowd will not miss the opportunity of becoming his own fan. Karl Kraus

Flattery is all right - if you don't inhale. Adlai Stevenson

The advantage of doing one's praising to oneself is that one can lay it on so thick and exactly in the right places. Samuel Butler

Some praise at morning what they blame at night. Alexander Pope

What really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattery. George Bernard Shaw

Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about. And since we know least about ourselves we are ready to believe all that is said about us. Hence the mysterious power of both flattery and calumny. Eric Hoffer

Some fellows pay a compliment like they expected a receipt. Kin Hubbard

I can live for two months on a good compliment. Mark Twain

A compliment is a gift not to be thrown away carelessly unless you want to hurt the giver. Eleanor Hamilton

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

The true test of independent judgement is being able to dislike someone who admires us. Sydney J. Harris

Once in a century a man may be ruined or made insufferable by praise. But surely once a minute something generous dies for want of it. John Masefield

Few human beings are proof against the implied flattery of rapt attention. Jack Woodford

Some natures are too good to be spoiled by praise. Ralph Waldo Emerson

An ingenuous mind feels in unmerited praise the bitterest reproof. Walter Savage Landor

It is simpler and easier to flatter men than to praise them. Jean Paul Richter

We should keep silent about those in power; to speak well of them almost implies flattery; to speak ill of them while they are alive is dangerous, and when they are dead is cowardly. Unknown

Flattery is like cologne water, to be smelt, not swallowed. Josh Billings