Flatterer Quotes

• Although a skillful flatterer is a most delightful companion if you have him all to yourself, his taste becomes very doubtful when he takes to complimenting other people.

  Charles Dickens

  Funny, People, Literature

  Charles Dickens (1872). “A Cyclopedia of the Best Thoughts of Charles Dickens”, p.197

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• Every flatterer lives at the expense of him who listens to him.

  Jean de La Fontaine

  Flattery, Expenses

  "The Fables of La Fontaine: Book I". Book by Jean de La Fontaine, 1668.

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

  Antisthenes

  Life, Fall, Crow

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• All flatterers are mercenary, and all low-minded men are flatterers.

  Aristotle

  Men, Lows, Mercenary

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• He that loves to be flattered is worthy o' the flatterer.

  William Shakespeare

  Love, Flattery, Worthy

  'Timon Of Athens' act 1, sc. 1, l. [233]

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• Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in disguise.

  William Penn

  Educational, Thieves, Flattery

  Thomas Clarkson, William Penn (1827). “Memoirs of the private and public life of William Penn: who settled the state of Pennsylvania, and founded the city of Philadelphia”, p.124

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• Don't be afraid of enemies who attack you. Be afraid of the friends who flatter you.

  Dale Carnegie

  Inspirational, Life, People

  Dale Carnegie (2010). “How To Win Friends and Influence People”, p.27, Simon and Schuster

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• A flatterer is a friend who is your inferior, or pretends to be so.

  Aristotle

  Inferiors

  Aristotle (1996). “The Nicomachean Ethics”, p.215, Wordsworth Editions

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• General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocite, flatterer.

  William Blake

  Hypocrite, Scoundrels, Organized

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• Self-love is the greatest of all flatterers.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Love, Self, Anorexia

  "The Moral Maxims and Reflections". Book by François de La Rochefoucauld. Maxim 2, 1678.

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• Flatterers look like friends, as wolves like dogs.

  George Chapman

  Funny, Friendship, Dog

  George Chapman (1874). “The Works of George Chapman: Plays”, p.231

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• A flatterer never seems absurd: The flatter'd always takes his word.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Humorous, Flattery, Absurd

  Benjamin Franklin (2004). “Poor Richard's Almanack”, p.84, Barnes & Noble Publishing

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• But it is hard to know them from friends, they are so obsequious and full of protestations; for a wolf resembles a dog, so doth a flatterer a friend.

  Walter Raleigh

  Dog, Flattery, Knows

  Walter Raleigh (1829). “The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh”, p.562

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• Be advised that all flatterers live at the expense of those who listen to them.

  Jean de La Fontaine

  Human Nature, Expenses

  "The Fables of La Fontaine: Book I". Book by Jean de La Fontaine, 1668.

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• 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

  Wise, Men, Physicians

  Philip Dormer Stanhope (4th earl of Chesterfield.), Charles Caleb Colton (1861). “Lord Chesterfield's advice to his son on men and manners. To which are added, selections from Colton's 'Lacon'.”, p.154

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• When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people.

  Edmund Burke

  People, Leader, Auctions

  Edmund Burke (1790). “Reflections on the Revolution in France: And on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. In a Letter Intended to Have Been Sent to a Gentleman in Paris”, p.353

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• It is hard to resist a flatterer who gets it right.

  Robert Breault

  Ego, Hard

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• The most positive men are the most credulous, since they most believe themselves, and advise most with their falsest flatterer and worst enemy--their own self-love.

  Alexander Pope

  Believe, Men, Self

  Alexander Pope, Alexander Chalmers (1807). “A Supplementary Volume to the Works of Alexander Pope, Esq: Containing Pieces of Poetry, Not Inserted in Warburton's and Warton's Editions : and a Collection of Letters, Now First Published”, p.126

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• Learn that every flatterer Lives at the flattered listeners cost.

  Jean de La Fontaine

  Cost, Flattery, Listeners

  Jean de La Fontaine (1964). “The fables of La Fontaine”

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• Read not books alone, but men, and amongst them chiefly thyself.

  Francis Quarles

  Book, Men, Distasteful

  Francis Quarles (1844). “Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles”, p.39

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• When the strong box contains no more both friends and flatterers shun the door.

  Plutarch

  Friendship, Strong, Money

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• By flatterers besieged And so obliging that he ne'er obliged.

  Alexander Pope

  Flattery, Obliged

  Alexander Pope (1825). “The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope: With a Sketch of the Author's Life”, p.265

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• There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer. For there is no such flatterer as is a man's self.

  Francis Bacon

  Best Friend, Men, Self

  Francis Bacon, Basil Montagu (1859). “The Works of Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England: With a Life of the Author by Basil Montagu”, p.35, Philadelphia : Parry & McMillan

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• Hope is a flatterer, but the most upright of all parasites; for she frequents the poor man's hut, as well as the palace of his superior.

  William Shenstone

  Hope, Men, Palaces

  William Shenstone (1804). “Essays on Men and Manners”, p.135

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• One may define flattery as a base companionship which is most advantageous to the flatterer.

  Theophrastus

  May, Flattery, Companionship

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