Self Flattery Quotes

This so-called animisn that not so much the Fan Nannies but everybody else around here subscribes to. can we really just write it off as primitive superstition run amok? Do only human beings have souls, or is that a narcissistic, chauvinistic piece of self-flattery? I mean, can't we look at that great old teak tree over there or at this gulch, and see as much of the divine in them as in some ol' anthropomorphic Sunday school Boom Daddy with imaginary long gray whiskers and a platinum bathrobe? Are we capable of entertaining the possibility that there may have been a holy entity in the cross as well as on it? ~ Tom Robbins

Projecting yourself until everything is talking about you is, of course, a self-flattering form of self-pity ~ Aleksandar Hemon

Well, there is a piece of famous advice, grand advice even if it is German, to forget what you can't bear. The strong can forget, can shut out history.
Very good. Even if it is self-flattery to speak of strength--these aesthetic philosophers, they take a posture, but power sweeps postures away. Still, it's true you can't go on transposing one nightmare into another, Nietzsche was certainly right about that. The tender-minded must harden themselves. Is this world nothing but a barren lump of coke? No, no, but what sometimes seems a system of prevention, a denial of what every human being knows.
I love my children, but I am the world to them, and bring them nightmares.
I had this child by my enemy. And I love her. The sight of her, the odor of her hair, this minute, makes me tremble with love. Isn't it mysterious how I love the child of my enemy?
But a man doesn't need happiness for himself.
No, he can put up with any amount of torment--with recollections, with his own familiar evils, despair.
And this is the unwritten history of man, his unseen, negative accomplishment, his power to do without gratification for himself provided there is something great, something into which his being, and all beings can go. He does not need meaning as long as such intensity has scope. Because then it is self-evident; it is meaning. ~ Saul Bellow

It is extremely difficult not to fake or overdo something on which you have just been complimented. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

The noblest part of a friend is an honest boldness in the notifying of errors. He that tells me of a fault, aiming at my good, I must think him wise and faithful
wise in spying that which I see not; faithful in a plain admonishment, not tainted with flattery. ~ Owen Feltham

The belief in the sanctity of one's idiosyncrasy - especially if it be a group idiosyncrasy, and therefore sustained and intensified by mutual flattery - is rapidly converted into a belief in its superiority. More ~ Ken Wilber

Were there no fools, there would be no flatterers. ~ Norm MacDonald

There is nothing in the world more difficult than candor, and nothing easier than flattery. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

People flatter us because they can depend upon our credulity. ~ Tacitus

Praise to the undeserving is severe satire. ~ Benjamin Franklin

If God has given you a mission, you must be tough enough to handle what people say and still not be distracted while doing what you were created to do. Are you tough enough? God and the enemy know the truth about you, and remember even great people doing great things for great causes meet negative criticisms. All criticism is not bad, just like all flattery is not good. Many times people don't criticize you because they are evil; they do it because they have been trained to think anyone who doesn't perceive and see things in the same manner is an enemy. The critic is a prisoner to his own experiences and perspectives, erroneously believing his limited experiences are the sum of all truth. When you acknowledge your critics, you give them your power and validate their words. They are not important until you respond. ~ Bishop T. D. Jakes

The world is grown so full of dissimulation and compliment, that men's words are hardly any signification of their thoughts. ~ Richard Steele

Nothing is harder to resist than a bit of flattery. ~ Arnold Lobel

The firmest purpose of a woman's heart to well-timed, artful flattery may yield. ~ George Lillo

To be flattered is grateful, even when we know that our praises are not believed by those who pronounce them; for they prove, at least, our power, and show that our favour is valued, since it is purchased by the meanness of falsehood. ~ Samuel Johnson

But, to return to my design, what power was it that drew those stony, oaken, and wild people into cities but flattery? For nothing else is signified by Amphion and Orpheus' harp. What was it that, when the common people of Rome were like to have destroyed all by their mutiny, reduced them to obedience? Was it a philosophical oration? Least. But a ridiculous and childish fable of the belly and the rest of the members. And as good success had Themistocles in his of the fox and hedgehog. What wise man's oration could ever have done so much with the people as Sertorius' invention of his white hind? Or his ridiculous emblem of pulling off a horse's tail hair by hair? Or as Lycurgus his example of his two whelps? To say nothing of Minos and Numa, both which ruled their foolish multitudes with fabulous inventions; with which kind of toys that great and powerful beast, the people, are led anyway. ~ Erasmus

Mountains of gold would not seduce some men, yet flattery would break them down. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

Whenever you commend, add your reasons for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and admiration of fools. ~ Richard Steele

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the rise of a trout to the tied fly, is the purest form of flattering nature with art. ~ R.E. Long

Although I am small, ugly and dirty, I am highly ambitious, and at the slightest flattery, I immediately start to strut like a turkey. ~ Italo Calvino

Flattery, the dangerous nurse of vice. ~ Samuel Daniel

He was a big, rather clumsy man, with a substantial bay window that started in the middle of the chest. I should guess that he was less muscular than at first sight he looked. He had large staring blue eyes and a damp and pendulous lower lip. He didn't look in the least like an intellectual. Creative people of his abundant kind never do, of course, but all the talk of Rutherford looking like a farmer was unperceptive nonsense. His was really the kind of face and physique that often goes with great weight of character and gifts. It could easily have been the soma of a great writer. As he talked to his companions in the streets, his voice was three times as loud as any of theirs, and his accent was bizarre…. It was part of his nature that, stupendous as his work was, he should consider it 10 per cent more so. It was also part of his nature that, quite without acting, he should behave constantly as though he were 10 per cent larger than life. Worldly success? He loved every minute of it: flattery, titles, the company of the high official world...But there was that mysterious diffidence behind it all. He hated the faintest suspicion of being patronized, even when he was a world figure.

Archbishop Lang was once tactless enough to suggest that he supposed a famous scientist had no time for reading. Rutherford immediately felt that he was being regarded as an ignorant roughneck. He produced a formidable list of his last month's reading. Then, half innocently, half malevol ~ C.P. Snow

People who wish to numb our caution in dealing with them by means of flattery are employing a dangerous expedient, like a sleeping draught, which, if it does not put us to sleep, keeps us all the more awake. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

It is easy to flatter; it is harder to praise. ~ Jean Paul

Thievery was the most authentic form of flattery. What could be more satisfying than knowing the things you possessed were intriguing, captivating, or valuable enough to provoke another man to risk everything to obtain them? This was Kelsier's purpose in life, to remind people of the value of the things they loved. By taking them away. ~ Brandon Sanderson

Flattery was formerly a vice; it has now become the fashion. ~ Publilius Syrus

If we never flattered ourselves we should have but scant pleasure. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld

To say a compliment well is a high art and few possess it. ~ Mark Twain

You men tell us we are angels, and say we can make you what we will; but the instant we honestly try to do you good, you laugh at us, and won't listen. which proves how much your flattery is worth. ~ Louisa May Alcott

Flattery is like chewing gum. Enjoy it but don't swallow it. ~ Hank Ketcham

...being asked out through a text message has become so banal that it no longer gives women that sense of flattery. ~ Aziz Ansari

Children are accustomed to a continual stream of criticisms and praise, but adults can go weeks without a compliment while enduring criticism both at work and at home. Adults are starved for a kind word. When you understand the power of honest praise (as opposed to bullshitting, flattery, and sucking up), you realize that withholding it borders on immoral. If you see something that impresses you, a decent respect to humanity insists you voice your praise. "Wow. ~ Scott Adams

Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in disguise. ~ William Penn

Imitation is always insult--not flattery. ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

That reminded him of how thrifty she was, and he promptly decided-at least for the moment-that her thriftiness was one of her most endearingly amusing qualities.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked.
He tipped his chin down so that he could better see her and brushed a stray lock of golden hair off her cheek. "I was thinking how wise I must be to have known within minutes of meeting you that you were wonderful."
She chuckled, thinking his words were teasing flattery. "How soon did my qualities become apparent?"
"I'd say," he thoughtfully replied, "I knew it when you took sympathy on Galileo."
She'd expected him to say something about her looks, not her conversation or her mind. "Truly?" she asked with unhidden pleasure.
He nodded, but he was studying her reaction with curiosity. "What did you think I was going to say?"
Her slim shoulders lifted in an embarrassed shrug. "I thought you would say it was my face you noticed first. People have the most extraordinary reaction to my face," she explained with a disgusted sigh.
"I can't imagine why," he said, grinning down at what was, in his opinion-in anyone's opinion-a heartbreakingly beautiful face belonging to a young woman who was sprawled across his chest looking like an innocent golden goddess.
"I think it's my eyes. They're an odd color."
"I see that now," he teased, then he said more solemnly, "but as it happens it was not your face which I found so beguiling when we met ~ Judith McNaught

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. ~ William Shakespeare

Few human beings are proof against the implied flattery of rapt attention. ~ Jack Woodford

'T is 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

Flattery is a foolish suicide; she destroys herself with her own hands. ~ Edward Gibbon

It is necessary to the success of flattery, that it be accommodated to particular circumstances or characters, and enter the heart on that side where the passions are ready to receive it. ~ Samuel Johnson

Never divulge secrets to acquaintances.
Never betray old friends for new ones.
Never mistake flattery for praise.
Never rely on dishonorable people.
Never trust your enemy's friends.
Never mistake someone's kindness for weakness. ~ Matshona Dhliwayo

The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny. ~ David Hume

Between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt. ~ Minna Antrim

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

A president aiming for 'Great' or 'Near Great' status must do more. He must give lots of interviews, make records accessible, and heap the flattery on academia - each of which Mr. Bush has signally failed to do. ~ Thomas Frank

Flattery was the best medicine, but even I gag on medicine. ~ Jemima Pett

Flattery would be worse than vain; there is no consolation in flattery. ~ Charlotte Bronte

She brought her elbow
backward and connected with Rand's ribs. He swore and released her.
She whirled on him. "That's for being so arrogant!"
Rand advanced on her, and the grin on his face wasn't at all reassuring. She took one step
back, then turned to sprint into the bathroom, when a pair of hands caught her and slung her over
a hard muscled shoulder.
"Put me down right now!" She screamed as she pummeled his back. "You are the most
annoying, selfish, barbaric, horny man I know, Rand Miller!"
He set her back on her feet inside the bathroom, then cupped her chin in his palm. "You
are the most gorgeous, intelligent, feisty woman I know, Lucy Flemming."
Lucy narrowed her eyes. What was he up to now? "Flattery won't help you out of this
one."
"It's not flattery. It's the truth," he murmured as he leaned close to her ear. "And, baby?"
"Yes?" she answered, her voice nearly inaudible as his nearness began to override her
anger.
"I'd better be the only horny man you know. ~ Anne Rainey

Well?" she teased in turn. "What do you think?"
The gray eyes that finally lifted to hers were flaming, but instead of answering, he flicked his burning gaze down her length again. He hesitated, and then said abruptly, "I think that the dress fits you perfectly."
Lauren burst out laughing. "Don't ever let anyone tell you that you have a way with flattery, because you don't."
"Is that right?" he mocked, his eyes challenging. "In that case, I'll you exactly what I think: I think that you're exquisitely lovely, and that you have the fascinating ability to look like an extremely sexy, sophisticated young woman and an utterly angelic girl at one and the same time. And I wish to hell that we weren't trapped here with a hundred other people for the next few hours, because whenever I look at you I become...uncomfortably eager...to find out how you're going to feel in my arms tonight. ~ Judith McNaught