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It has been well said that "the arch-flatterer with whom all the
petty flatterers have intelligence is a man's self."
Author:
Source: None
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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.
Author: Bible
Source: Psalms (ch. V, v. 9)
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Let flattery, the handmaid of the vices, be far removed (from
friendship).
[Lat., Assentatio, vitiorum adjutrix, procul amoveatur.]
Author: Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero)
Source: De Amicitia (XXIV)
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Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.
Author: Charles Caleb Colton
Source: Lacon (p. 127)
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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.
Author: Oliver Goldsmith
Source: Retaliation (l. 109)
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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.]
Author: Juvenal (Decimus Junius Juvenal)
Source: Satires (III, 86)
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We sometimes think that we hate flattery, but we only hate the
manner in which it is done.
[Fr., On croit quelquefoir hair la flatterie; maid on ne hait que
a maniere de flatter.]
Author: Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld
Source: Maximes (329)
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Gallantry of mind consists in saying flattering things in an
agreeable manner.
Author: Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld
Source: Maxims (103)
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No adulation; 'tis the death of virtue;
Who flatters, is of all mankind the lowest
Save he who courts the flattery.
Author: Hannah More
Source: Daniel
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They who delight to be flattered, pay for their folly by a late
repentance.
[Lat., Qu se laudari gaudent verbis subdolis,
Sera dant peonas turpes poenitentia.]
Author: Phaedrus (Thrace of Macedonia)
Source: Fables (I, 13, 1)
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By flatterers besieged
And so obliging that he ne'er obliged.
Author: Alexander Pope
Source: Prologue to Satires (l. 207)
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It is easier and handier for men to flatter than to praise.
[Ger., Es ist dem Menschen leichter und gelaufiger, zu
schmeicheln als zu loben.]
Author: Jean Paul Richter
Source: Titan (zykel 34)
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Mine eyes
Were not in fault, for she was beautiful;
Mine ears, that heard her flattery; nor my heart,
That thought her like her seeming. It had been vicious
To have mistrusted her.
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: Cymbeline (Cymbeline at V, v)
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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.
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Hamlet at III, ii)
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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.
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: Julius Caesar (Decius at II, i)
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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.
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: King Henry the Fourth, Part I (Hotspur at IV, i)
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What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet,
But poisoned flattery?
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: The Life of King Henry the Fifth (King Henry at IV, i)
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O that men's ears should be
To counsel deaf but not to flattery!
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: The Life of Timon of Athens (Apemantus at I, ii)
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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.
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: Pericles Prince of Tyre (Helicanus at I, ii)
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Take no repulse, whatever she doth say;
For 'get you gone,' she doth not mean 'away.'
Flatter and praise, commend, extol their graces;
Though ne'er so black, say they have angels' faces.
That man that hath a tongue, I say is no man,
If with his tongue he cannot win a woman.
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Valentine at III, i)
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What really flatters a man is that you think him worth
flattering.
Author: George Bernard Shaw
Source: John Bull's Other Island
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'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.
Author: Jonathan Swift
Source: Cadenus and Vanessa (l. 769)
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Where Young must torture his invention
To flatter knaves, or lose his pension.
Author: Jonathan Swift
Source: Poetry, a Rhapsody (l. 279)
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Flattery was formerly a vice; it has now become the fashion.
[Lat., Pessimum genus inimicorum laudantes.]
Author: Syrus (Publilius Syrus)
Source: Maxims
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When Fortune flatters, she does it to betray.
Author: Syrus (Publilius Syrus)
Source: Maxims
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We sometimes imagine we hate flattery, but we only hate the way we are flattered.
Author: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Source: None
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If you can't love, learn how to flatter.
Author: Anonymous
Source: None
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Nature has hardly formed a woman ugly enough to be insensible to flattery upon her person.
Author: Lord Chesterfield
Source: None
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What really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattering.
Author: George Bernard Shaw
Source: None
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Flattery is all right if you don't inhale.
Author: Adlai E. Stevenson
Source: None
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Flattery will get you everywhere.
Author: Mae West
Source: None
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Flattery is like cologne water, to be smelt of, not swallowed.
Author: Josh Billings
Source: None
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None are more taken in with flattery than the proud, who wish to be the first and are not.
Author: Benedict Spinoza
Source: None
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Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present.
Author: Samuel Johnson
Source: None
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It is easy to flatter; it is harder to praise.
Author: Jean Paul Richter
Source: None
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Fools grow without watering.
Author: Thomas Fuller
Source: None
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To be a man's own fool is bad enough; but the vain man is everybody's.
Author: William Penn
Source: None
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Always let your flattery be seen through for what really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattering.
Author: George Bernard Shaw
Source: None
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Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in disguise.
Author: William Penn
Source: None
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What the fool does in the end, the wise man does in the beginning.
Author: Proverb
Source: None
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Young men think old men are fools, but old men know young men are fools.
Author: George Chapman
Source: None
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The best way to convince a fool that he is wrong is to let him have his own way.
Author: Josh Billings
Source: None
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Flattery is from the teeth out. Sincere appreciation is from the heart out.
Author: Dale Carnegie
Source: None
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A fool can no more see his own folly than he can see his ears.
Author: William Makepeace Thackeray
Source: None
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Nobody can describe a fool to the life, without much patient self-inspection.
Author: Frank Moore Colby
Source: None
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Knavery and flattery are blood relations.
Author: Abraham Lincoln
Source: None
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Let us be thankful for the fools; but for them the rest of us could not succeed.
Author: Mark Twain
Source: None
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It is better to fall among crows than flatterers; for those devour only the dead--these the living.
Author: Antisthenes
Source: None
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