Flattery

". 'No quality will get a man more friends than a disposition to admire the qualities of others. I do not mean flattery, but a sincere admiration.' . 'Nay, Sir, flattery pleases very generally. In the first place, the flatterer may think what he says to be true: but, in the second place, whether he thinks so or not, he certainly thinks those whom he flatters of consequence enough to be flattered.'"

"Men who offer laudatory speeches to the rich ... are insidious because, although mere abundance is by itself quite enough to puff up the souls of its possessors, and to corrupt them, and to turn them aside from the way by which salvation can be reached, these men bring fresh delusion to the minds of the rich by exciting them with the pleasures that come from their immoderate praises, and by rendering them contemptuous of absolutely everything in the world except the wealth which is the cause of their being admired. In the words of the proverb, they carry fire to fire, when they shower pride upon pride, and heap on wealth, heavy by its own nature, the heavier burden of arrogance."

"She began to think too, that Sir Mulberry was not quite so agreeable a creature as she had at first supposed him; for, although a skilful flatterer is a most delightful companion if you can keep him all to yourself, his taste becomes very doubtful when he takes to complimenting other people."

"Imitation is the sincerest of flattery."

"I would give worlds, could I believe One-half that is profess'd me; Affection! could I think it Thee, When Flattery has caress'd me."

"How was Moses able to withstand Pharaoh when he had nothing but holiness to give him courage? ... A solitary prophet once censured a king for his unlawful acts, when the king had his whole army with him. ... These holy men achieved such things because they had resolved to live for the soul alone, turning away from the body and its wants. The fact of needing nothing made them superior to all men. They chose to forsake the body and to free themselves from life in the flesh, rather than to betray the cause of holiness and, because of their bodily needs, to flatter the wealthy. ...But, as for us, when we lack something, instead of struggling courageously against our difficulties, we come fawning to the rich, like puppies wagging their tails in the hope of being tossed a bare bone or some crumbs. To get what we want, we call them benefactors and protectors of Christians, attributing every virtue to them, even though they may be utterly wicked.We should not flatter, because of our needs, those who value highly the very things it is our vocation to despise."

"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."

"Why should the poor be flatter'd? No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp, And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee, Where thrift may follow fawning."

"By God, I cannot flatter: I do defy The tongues of soothers; but a braver place In my heart's love, hath no man than yourself; Nay, task me to my word; approve me, lord."

"What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet, But poison'd flattery?"

"But when I tell him he hates flatterers, He says he does, being then most flattered."

"They do abuse the king that flatter him: For flattery is the bellows blows up sin."

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

"Take no repulse, whatever she doth say; For, "get you gone," she doth not mean, "away." Flatter and praise, commend, extol their graces; Though ne'er so black, say they have angels' faces. That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man, If with his tongue he cannot win a woman."

"Of folly, vice, disease, men proud we see; And, (stranger still,) of blockheads' flattery; Whose praise defames; as if a fool should mean, By spitting on your face, to make it clean."

"With your own heart confer; And dread even there to find a flatterer."

"It is one of the great evils of servitude, that let the tyranny be ever so severe, 'tis always flattered; and the more severe 'tis, the more 'tis flattered. The oppressors of mankind are flattered beyond all others; because fear and servitude naturally produce, as well as have recourse to, flattery, as the best means of self-preservation; whereas liberty, having no occasion for it, scorns it."

"It has been well said that "the arch-flatterer with whom all the petty flatterers have intelligence is a man's self.""

"Assentatio, vitiorum adjutrix, procul amoveatur."

"Of praise a mere glutton, he swallow'd what came, And the puff of a dunce, he mistook it for fame; Till his relish grown callous, almost to displease, Who pepper'd the highest was surest to please."

"Adulandi gens prudentissima laudat Sermonem indocti, faciem deformis amici."

"Gallantry of mind consists in saying flattering things in an agreeable manner."

"On croit quelquefois haïr la flatterie; mais on ne hait que la manière de flatter."

"No adulation; 'tis the death of virtue; Who flatters, is of all mankind the lowest Save he who courts the flattery."

"Qu se laudari gaudent verbis subdolis, Sera dant pœnas turpes pœnitentia."

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

"Their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue."

"Es ist dem Menschen leichter und geläufiger, zu schmeicheln als zu loben."

"'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."

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

"Vitium fuit, nunc mos est, adsentatio."

"Pessimum genus inimicorum laudantes."