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

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

It is easy to flatter; it is harder to praise.

It is easy to flatter; it is harder to praise.

No adulation; 'tis the death of virtue;
Who flatters, is of all mankind the lowest
Save he read more

No adulation; 'tis the death of virtue;
Who flatters, is of all mankind the lowest
Save he who courts the flattery.

He that loves to be flattered is worthy o' the flatterer.

He that loves to be flattered is worthy o' the flatterer.

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is
very wickedness; their throat is an open read more

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is
very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter
with their tongue.

Of praise a mere glutton, he swallow'd what came,
And the puff a dunce, he mistook it for fame;
read more

Of praise a mere glutton, he swallow'd what came,
And the puff a dunce, he mistook it for fame;
Till his relish grown callous, almost to displease,
Who pepper'd the highest was surest to please.

By flatterers besieged
And so obliging that he ne'er obliged.

By flatterers besieged
And so obliging that he ne'er obliged.

Let us be thankful for the fools; but for them the rest of us could not succeed.

Let us be thankful for the fools; but for them the rest of us could not succeed.

We sometimes think that we hate flattery, but we only hate the
manner in which it is done.
read more

We sometimes think that we hate flattery, but we only hate the
manner in which it is done.
[Fr., On croit quelquefoir hair la flatterie; maid on ne hait que
a maniere de flatter.]