FLATTERY QUOTES

quotations about flattery

The encomium of one incapable of flattery is indeed flattering.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

letter to Thomas Jefferson Hogg, Dec. 28, 1810


A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool.

EDWARD BULWER LYTTON

Pelham


Flatterers and dogs soil their own masters.

GERMAN PROVERB


The lie that flatters I abhor the most.

WILLIAM COWPER

Table Talk


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

BOB PHILLIPS

Phillips' Book of Great Thoughts and Funny Sayings


Flattery is the lime to catch a human fly.

TAN KHENG YEANG

Reduced Reflections


A flatterer never seems absurd:
The flatter'd always takes his word.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Poor Richard's Almanack, 1740


Who flatters, is of all mankind the lowest.
Save him who courts the flattery.

HANNAH MORE

Daniel


I have been complimented many times and they always embarrass me; I always feel that they have not said enough.

MARK TWAIN

speech, Sep. 23, 1907


Excellent flatterers welcome attentive audiences; mighty potentates enjoy public praise. In the most pleasing situation, a flatterer would genuinely admire the flatteree, please that person, please other present company, be pleased to stagger rivals, and get something out of it: applause, promotion, a favor, reciprocal praise. Flattery is as social as a banquet.

WILLIS GOTH REGIER

In Praise of Flattery


Crows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need of them; but flatterers mar the soul of the living, and her eyes they blind.

EPICTETUS

Fragments


Flattery is a sort of bad money to which our vanity gives currency.

FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

Moral Maxims


Were there no fools, there would be no flatterers.

NORMAN MACDONALD

Maxims and Moral Reflections


Heart-stopping envy is the sincerest form of flattery.

ANNA GODBERSEN

The Luxe


'Tis an old maxim in the schools,
That flattery's the food of fools;
Yet now and then your men of wit
Will condescend to take a bit.

JONATHAN SWIFT

Cadenus and Vanessa


When flattery is misplaced it is fatal to a flatterer.

WILLIS GOTH REGIER

In Praise of Flattery


Flattery is often a traffic of mutual meanness, where, although both parties intend deception, neither are deceived; since words that cost little are exchanged for hopes that cost less. But we must be careful how we flatter fools too little, or wise men too much; for the flatterer must act the very reverse of the physician, and administer the strongest dose only to the weakest patient.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

Lacon


Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

Lacon


Flattery is sweet food to those who can swallow it.

DANISH PROVERB


Flattery is the chief tool of all confidence men.

NAPOLEON HILL

How to Sell Your Way Through Life