Nay, do not think I flatter.
For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revenue read more

Nay, do not think I flatter.
For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revenue hast but thy good spirits
To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flattered?
No, let the candied tongue like absurd pomp,
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
Where thrift may follow fawning.

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is
very wickedness; their throat is an open read more

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is
very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter
with their tongue.

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

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

The skilful class of flatterers praise the discourse of an
ignorant friend and the face of a deformed one.
read more

The skilful class of flatterers praise the discourse of an
ignorant friend and the face of a deformed one.
[Lat., Adulandi gens prudentissima laudat
Sermonem indocti, faciem deformis amici.]

Flattery is like friendship in show, but not in fruit

Flattery is like friendship in show, but not in fruit

If he be so resolved,
I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear
That unicorns may read more

If he be so resolved,
I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear
That unicorns may be betrayed with trees
And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,
Lions with toils, and men with flatterers,
He says he does, being then most flattered.

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.

Flattery is the worst and falsest way of showing our esteem

Flattery is the worst and falsest way of showing our esteem

Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present.

Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present.