Flattery is the worst and falsest way of showing our esteem

Flattery is the worst and falsest way of showing our esteem

Flattery is all right if you don't inhale.

Flattery is all right if you don't inhale.

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

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

A woman's flattery may inflate a man's head a little; but her criticism goes straight to his heart, and contracts read more

A woman's flattery may inflate a man's head a little; but her criticism goes straight to his heart, and contracts it so that it can never again hold quite as much love for her

'Tis an old maxim in the schools,
That flattery's the food of fools;
Yet now and then read more

'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.

Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.

Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.

Let us be thankful for the fools; but for them the rest of us could not succeed.

Let us be thankful for the fools; but for them the rest of us could not succeed.

Of praise a mere glutton, he swallow'd what came,
And the puff a dunce, he mistook it for fame;
read more

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

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.