Nothing is so great an instance of ill-manners as flattery.—Swift.
Men find it more easy to flatter than to praise.—Jean Paul.
'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.
—Swift.
Ah! when the means are gone, that buy this praise,
The breath is gone whereof this praise is made.
—Shakespeare.
Flattery is false money, which would not be current were it not for our vanity.—La Rochefoucauld.
Who flatters is of all mankind the lowest,
Save he who courts the flattery.
—Hannah More.
Meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.—Proverbs 20:19.
Men are like stone jugs,—you may lug them where you like by the ears.—Dr. Johnson.
Commend a fool for his wit and a knave for his honesty, and they will receive you into their bosoms.—Fielding.
Flowers.—Flowers are the sweetest things that God ever made and forgot to put a soul into.—Beecher.