O that men's ears should be
To counsel deaf but not to flattery!

O that men's ears should be
To counsel deaf but not to flattery!

Flattery is all right so long as you don't inhale.

Flattery is all right so long as you don't inhale.

Flattery will get you everywhere.

Flattery will get you everywhere.

Nay, do not think I flatter.
For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revenue read more

Nay, do not think I flatter.
For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revenue hast but thy good spirits
To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flattered?
No, let the candied tongue like absurd pomp,
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
Where thrift may follow fawning.

Nature has hardly formed a woman ugly enough to be insensible to flattery upon her person.

Nature has hardly formed a woman ugly enough to be insensible to flattery upon her person.

Where Young must torture his invention
To flatter knaves, or lose his pension.

Where Young must torture his invention
To flatter knaves, or lose his pension.

If you can't love, learn how to flatter.

If you can't love, learn how to flatter.

What really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattering.

What really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattering.

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