Quotes About Flattery

Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites…in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

The heart of a woman is never so full of affection that there does not remain a little corner for flattery and love.

The love of one's own sex is precious, for it is neither provoked by vanity nor retained by flattery; it is genuine and sincere.

That little hypocrites and half-crazed people dare to imagine that on their account the laws of nature are constantly broken; such an enhancement of every kind of selfishness to infinity, to impudence, cannot be branded with sufficient contempt. And yet Christianity owes its triumph to this pitiable flattery of personal vanity.

Attention is a silent and perpetual flattery.

What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet, But poisoned flattery?

Flattery leads to vulgarity; the flatterer is despised.

Because nothing says flattery like a gun to the head.

People who wish to numb our caution in dealing with them by means of flattery are employing a dangerous expedient, like a sleeping draught, which, if it does not put us to sleep, keeps us all the more awake.

Now, in my opinion, a woman has no business with Power-Power admits no equal, and dismisses friendship for flattery. Besides, it keeps the men at a distance, and that is not always what we wish.

Nothing is harder to resist than a bit of flattery.

Fearing no insult, asking for no crown, receive with indifference both flattery and slander, and do not argue with a fool.

I get out my work and have a show for myself before I have it publicly. I make up my own mind about it-how good or bad or indifferent it is. After that, the critics can write what they please. I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.

The habit of pleasing by flattery makes a language soft; the fear of offending by truth makes it circuitous and conventional.

I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.

Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with a trowel.

Let flattery, the handmaid of the vices, be far removed .

Flattery makes fools of the best of us.

Always try to grow in your garden some plant or plants out of the ordinary, something your neighbors never attempted. For you can receive no greater flattery than to have a gardener of equal intelligence stand before your plant and ask, "What is that?"

Flattery is saying something nice in order to help yourself. Encouragement is saying something true in order help someone else.

No matter what other nations may say about the United States, immigration is still the sincerest form of flattery.

Men who stand in the highest ranks of society seldom hear of their faults; if by any accident an opprobrious clamour reaches their ears, flattery is always at hand to pour in her opiates, to quiet conviction and obtund remorse.

Imitation is flattery

Flattery is a challenge. The proper turning away from it, undercutting, diminishing it without offense or vehemence, is a social grace sweeter even than the swift determination to keep ahead in the race of hospitality.

Flattery looks like friendship, just like a wolf looks like a dog. Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.

I am an actor and of course I respond very positively to flattery.

No visor does become black villainy so well as soft and tender flattery.

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.

Heart-stopping envy is the sincerest form of flattery.

Flattery is like a painted armor; only for show.

In short, no association or alliance can be happy or stable without me. People can't long tolerate a ruler, nor can a master his servant, a maid her mistress, a teacher his pupil, a friend his friend nor a wife her husband, a landlord his tenant, a soldier his comrade nor a party-goer his companion, unless they sometimes have illusions about each other, make use of flattery, and have the sense to turn a blind eye and sweeten life for themselves with the honey of folly.

When we seek appreciation from others, we get not appreciation, but flattery.

Confidence, as opposed, to modesty and distinguished from decent assurance, proceeds from self-opinion, and is occasioned by ignorance and flattery.

In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it; for no species of falsehood is more frequent than flattery, to which the coward is betrayed by fear, the dependent by interest, and the friend by tenderness: those who are neither servile nor timorous are yet desirous to bestow pleasure; and, while unjust demands of praise continue to be made, there will always be some whom hope, fear, or kindness will dispose to pay them.