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

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

It is better to fall among crows than flatterers; for those devour only the dead--these the living.

It is better to fall among crows than flatterers; for those devour only the dead--these the living.

Fools grow without watering.

Fools grow without watering.

Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in disguise.

Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in disguise.

They do not abuse the king that flatter him.
For flattery is the bellows blows up sin;
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They do not abuse the king that flatter him.
For flattery is the bellows blows up sin;
The thing the which is flattered, but a spark
To which that blast gives heat and stronger glowing;
Whereas reproof, obedient and in order,
Fits kings as they are men, for they may err.

I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read read more

I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.

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.

When Fortune flatters, she does it to betray.

When Fortune flatters, she does it to betray.

We sometimes imagine we hate flattery, but we only hate the way we are flattered.

We sometimes imagine we hate flattery, but we only hate the way we are flattered.