Familiar Quotations / A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to / Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature

by Unknown

Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,

And without sneering teach the rest to sneer;[327:3]

Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,

Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.

Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 201.

By flatterers besieg'd,

And so obliging that he ne'er oblig'd;

Like Cato, give his little senate laws,[327:4]

And sit attentive to his own applause.

Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 207.