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I can spot empty flattery and know exactly where I stand. In the end it's really only my own approval read more
I can spot empty flattery and know exactly where I stand. In the end it's really only my own approval or disapproval that means anything.
Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present.
Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present.
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
By flatterers besieged
And so obliging that he ne'er obliged.
By flatterers besieged
And so obliging that he ne'er obliged.
Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished read more
Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people in order to betray them.
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.
It has been well said that "the arch-flatterer with whom all the
petty flatterers have intelligence is a man's read more
It has been well said that "the arch-flatterer with whom all the
petty flatterers have intelligence is a man's self."
They who delight to be flattered, pay for their folly by a late
repentance.
[Lat., Qu se laudari read more
They who delight to be flattered, pay for their folly by a late
repentance.
[Lat., Qu se laudari gaudent verbis subdolis,
Sera dant peonas turpes poenitentia.]
