Home › F › Flattery

Flattery: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

And wrinkles, the d-d democrats, won't flatter.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto X. St. XXIV.

Greatly his foes he dreads, but more his friends, He hurts me most who lavishly commends.— CHURCHILL — The Apology. L. 19.

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.— GOLDSMITH — Retaliation. L. 109.

Gallantry of mind consists in saying flattering things in an agreeable manner.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maxims and Moral Sentences. No. 103.

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

By flatterers besieged And so obliging that he ne'er obliged; Like Cato, give his little senate laws, And sit attentive to his own applause.— POPE — Prologue to Satires. L. 207.

*** for ne'er Was flattery lost on Poet's ear; A simple race! they waste their toil For the vain tribute of a smile.— SCOTT — Lay of the Last Minstrel. Canto IV. Last Stanza.

But when I tell him he hates flatterers, He says he does, being then most flattered. Julius Cæsar. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 208. 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. Henry IV. Pt. 1. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 6. Faith, there have been many great men that have flattered the people, who ne'er loved them; and there be many that they have loved, they know not wherefore; so that, if they love they know not why, they hate upon no better a ground.— Shakespeare — Coriolanus. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 7.

Lay not that flattering unction to your soul.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 4. L. 145.

Assentatio, vitiorum adjutrix, procul amoveatur. Let flattery, the handmaid of the vices, be far removed (from friendship).— CICERO — De Amicitia. XXIV.

Adulandi gens prudentissima laudat Sermonem indocti, faciem deformis amici. The skilful class of flatterers praise the discourse of an ignorant friend and the face of a deformed one.— JUVENAL — Satiræ. III. 86.

Qui se laudari gaudent verbis subdolis, Serâ dant pœnas turpes pœnitentiâ. They who delight to be flattered, pay for their folly by a late repentance.— PHEDRUS — Fabul. I. 13. 1.

On croit quelquefois haïr la flatterie; mais on ne hait que la manière de flatter. We sometimes think that we hate flattery, but we only hate the manner in which it is done.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maximes. 329.

Es ist dem Menschen leichter und geläufiger, zu schmeicheln als zu loben. It is easier and handier for men to flatter than to praise.— JEAN PAUL RICHTER — Titan. Zykel 34.