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.

A woman's flattery may inflate a man's head a little; but her criticism goes straight to his heart, and contracts read more

A woman's flattery may inflate a man's head a little; but her criticism goes straight to his heart, and contracts it so that it can never again hold quite as much love for her

I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read read more

I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.

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

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

They do not abuse the king that flatter him.
For flattery is the bellows blows up sin;
read more

They do not abuse the king that flatter him.
For flattery is the bellows blows up sin;
The thing the which is flattered, but a spark
To which that blast gives heat and stronger glowing;
Whereas reproof, obedient and in order,
Fits kings as they are men, for they may err.

The best way to convince a fool that he is wrong is to let him have his own way.

The best way to convince a fool that he is wrong is to let him have his own way.

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.

To be a man's own fool is bad enough; but the vain man is everybody's.

To be a man's own fool is bad enough; but the vain man is everybody's.

Mine eyes
Were not in fault, for she was beautiful;
Mine ears, that heard her flattery; nor read more

Mine eyes
Were not in fault, for she was beautiful;
Mine ears, that heard her flattery; nor my heart,
That thought her like her seeming. It had been vicious
To have mistrusted her.