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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON, Lacon
Flattery succeeds best on minds previously occupied by conceit.
NORMAN MACDONALD, Maxims and Moral Reflections
The lie that flatters I abhor the most.
WILLIAM COWPER, Table Talk
- '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.
JONATHAN SWIFT, Cadenus and Vanessa
To ask advice is in nine cases out of ten to tout for flattery.
JOHN CHURTON COLLINS, Maxims and Reflections
Flattery is refined deception--it is the froth of language--it is the alcohol of social intercourse--it is the prescription of the subtle--and the nectar of fools.
WILLIAM SCOTT DOWNEY, Proverbs
Adroit observers will find that some who affect to dislike flattery, may yet be flattered indirectly, by a well seasoned abuse and ridicule of their rivals.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON, Lacon
Were there no fools, there would be no flatterers.
NORMAN MACDONALD, Maxims and Moral Reflections
We must suit the flattery to the mind and taste of the recipient. We do not put essences into hogsheads, or porter into phials. Delicate minds may be disgusted by compliments that would please a grosser intellect, as some fine ladies, who would be shocked at the idea of a dram, will not refuse a liqueur. Some indeed there are, who profess to despise all flattery, but even these are, nevertheless, to be flattered, by being told that they do despise it.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON, Lacon
We would seldom be deceived by flattery, did our own conceit not promote the delusion.
NORMAN MACDONALD, Maxims and Moral Reflections
Flattery is often a traffic of mutual meanness, where, although both parties intend deception, neither are deceived; since words that cost little are exchanged for hopes that cost less. But we must be careful how we flatter fools too little, or wise men too much; for the flatterer must act the very reverse of the physician, and administer the strongest dose only to the weakest patient.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON, Lacon
It is the folly of weak-minded people, to imagine they are what flattery or conceit represents them; and that it is useless for them to be what they are not, since they seem already to have acquired the reputation of it.
NORMAN MACDONALD, Maxims and Moral Reflections
Some persons are insensible to flattering words, but who can resist the flattery of modest imitation?
ARTHUR HELPS, Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd
The most certain way to check flattery in others is to appear insensible of it.
NORMAN MACDONALD, Maxims and Moral Reflections
The encomium of one incapable of flattery is indeed flattering.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, letter to Thomas Jefferson Hogg, Dec. 28, 1810
It is very easy to discern flattery in most people, but to discern its motives, requires an uncommon depth of penetration.
NORMAN MACDONALD, Maxims and Moral Reflections
Were we not accustomed to flatter ourselves, the flattery of others would seldom deceive us.
NORMAN MACDONALD, Maxims and Moral Reflections
All men are susceptible of flattery: its reception is neither precarious nor doubtful, when once the proper channel of communication is explored.
NORMAN MACDONALD, Maxims and Moral Reflections
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