Flattery Quotes - Page 17

• Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.

  Oscar Wilde

  Greatness, Mediocrity, Pay

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• My cut is blunt and futuristic, and Nicki Minaj started wearing that bob on her head after she came to my show, so at the end of the day, I know what I do, and I know what I possess, and I know who I am. I'm a trendsetter. The biggest form of flattery is imitation, so I'm flattered.

  Lil' Mama

  Cutting, Who I Am, The End Of The Day

  "Lil Mama On Her Style Evolution; Nicki Minaj & Being A Curse-Free Rapper". Interview with Tray Hova, www.vibe.com. June 15, 2011.

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• You cannot rationalize what is not rational to begin with - as if lying were called truthization. There is no way to obtain more truth for a proposition by bribery, flattery, or the most passionate argument - you can make more people believe the proposition, but you cannot make it more true.

  Eliezer Yudkowsky

  Lying, Believe, People

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• Flattery.... gets its kicks by flirting with insult and ridicule.

  Willis Regier

  Flirting, Insult, Ridicule

  Willis Goth Regier (2007). “In Praise of Flattery”, p.13, U of Nebraska Press

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• At its best, flattery is truth well dressed, and it is best dressed with fine see-through fabrics. Honest flattery can caress a lover, cover up a gaffe, and muffle aggression.

  Willis Regier

  Fabric, Cover Ups, Lovers

  Willis Goth Regier (2007). “In Praise of Flattery”, p.8, U of Nebraska Press

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• Excellent flatterers welcome attentive audiences; mighty potentates enjoy public praise. In the most pleasing situation, a flatterer would genuinely admire the flatteree, please that person, please other present company, be pleased to stagger rivals, and get something out of it: applause, promotion, a favor, reciprocal praise. Flattery is as social as a banquet.

  Willis Regier

  Rivals, Favors, Welcome

  Willis Goth Regier (2007). “In Praise of Flattery”, p.4, U of Nebraska Press

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• I think imitation is always the greatest form of flattery.

  Simon de Pury

  Thinking, Imitation, Form

  Interview with Bevy Smith, www.interviewmagazine.com. November 26, 2008.

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• Flattery is saying something nice in order to help yourself. Encouragement is saying something true in order help someone else.

  Kevin DeYoung

  Encouragement, Nice, Order

  Twitter post from Jul 27, 2015

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• A little flattery makes people feel good about themselves. When you notice someone looking great, give them a compliment.

  Ken Blanchard

  People, Giving, Feel Good

  Twitter post from Mar 04, 2015

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• I have trod a measure, I have flattered a lady, I have
  been politic with my friend, smooth with mine enemy.

  William Shakespeare

  Dancing, Dancer, Enemy

  William Shakespeare, Alan Brissenden (1998). “As You Like it”, p.219, Oxford University Press, USA

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• They told me I was everything. 'Tis a lie, I am not ague-proof.

  William Shakespeare

  Lying, Humanity, Proof

  'King Lear' (1605-6) act 4, sc. 6, l. [107]

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• It is visible then that it was not any Heathen Religion or other Idolatrous Superstition, that first put Man upon crossing his Appetites and subduing his dearest Inclinations, but the skilful Management of wary Politicians; and the nearer we search into human Nature, the more we shall be convinced, that the Moral Virtues are the Political Offspring which Flattery begot upon Pride.

  Bernard de Mandeville

  Pride, Men, Political

  Bernard de Mandeville (1723). “The Fable of the Bees”, p.23, Jazzybee Verlag

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• Many a maid have I won by a quarrel, when flattery was in no wise helpful; but take heed that thou art in the wrong, so that thou mayest acknowledge thine error.

  Gelett Burgess

  Wise, Art, Errors

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• There are some who affect a want of affectation, and flatter themselves that they are above flattery; they are proud of being thought extremely humble, and would go round the world to punish those who thought them capable of revenge; they are so satisfied of the suavity of their own temper that they would quarrel with their dearest benefactor only for doubting it.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Revenge, Humble, Doubt

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.42

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• Alas! the praise given to the ear
  Ne'er was nor ne'er can be sincere.

  Letitia Elizabeth Landon

  Ears, Praise, Sincere

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• What makes you attractive is being yourself, being natural, being unaware. Even though makeup is important, you should do it all, and then forget about it. You don't want to look like anyone else, any more than you want to be anyone else. You want to look like you. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery - but it's flattering to someone else. Not to you.

  Diane von Furstenberg

  Being Yourself, Makeup, Important

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• Human life is thus only a perpetual illusion; men deceive and flatter each other. No one speaks of us in our presence as he does of us in our absence. Human society is founded on mutual deceit; few friendships would endure if each knew what his friend said of him in his absence, although he then spoke in sincerity and without passion.

  Blaise Pascal

  Passion, Men, Deception

  Blaise Pascal (2013). “Pascal's Pensees”, p.35, Simon and Schuster

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• Wounded pride can take a rich young man far who is surrounded by flatterers since birth.

  Stendhal

  Pride, Men, Birth

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• The a priori method is distinguished for its comfortable conclusions. It is the nature of the process to adopt whatever belief weare inclined to, and there are certain flatteries to the vanity of man which we all believe by nature, until we are awakened from our pleasing dream by rough facts.

  Charles Sanders Peirce

  Dream, Believe, Men

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• Tis a barbarous temper, and a sign of a very ill nature, to take delight in shocking any one: and, on the contrary, it is the mark of an amiable and a beneficent temper, to say all the kind things one can, without flattery or playing the hypocrite,--and what never fails of procuring the love and esteem of every one; which, next to doing good to a deserving object who wants it, is one of the greatest pleasures of this life.

  Samuel Richardson

  Hypocrite, Want, Next

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• One can also be undignified and flattering toward a virtue.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Virtue, Flattering

  Friedrich Nietzsche (2016). “The Joyful Wisdom”, p.222, Friedrich Nietzsche

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• A little flattery, like a warm bath and soft towel, will let you get along with yourself, lie down with yourself, and sleep.

  Willis Regier

  Lying, Sleep, Compassion

  Willis Goth Regier (2007). “In Praise of Flattery”, p.18, U of Nebraska Press

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• Now, in my opinion, a woman has no business with Power-Power admits no equal, and dismisses friendship for flattery. Besides, it keeps the men at a distance, and that is not always what we wish.

  George Edward Moore

  Distance, Men, Wish

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• That little hypocrites and half-crazed people dare to imagine that on their account the laws of nature are constantly broken; such an enhancement of every kind of selfishness to infinity, to impudence, cannot be branded with sufficient contempt. And yet Christianity owes its triumph to this pitiable flattery of personal vanity.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Hypocrite, Vanity, Law

  Friedrich Nietzsche (2012). “Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist”, p.120, Courier Corporation

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• Patron: One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is repaid in flattery.

  Samuel Johnson

  Support, Patronage, Insolence

  "A Dictionary of the English Language". Book by Samuel Johnson, 1755.

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