What really flatters a man is that you think him worth
flattering.

What really flatters a man is that you think him worth
flattering.

'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.

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

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

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.

Fools grow without watering.

Fools grow without watering.

Flattery is telling the other person precisely what he thinks about himself

Flattery is telling the other person precisely what he thinks about himself

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.

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.