Praise Quotes - Page 7

• Praise follows truth afar off, and only overtakes her at the grave; plausibility clings to her skirts and holds her back till then

  James Russell Lowell

  Afar, Skirts, Graves

  James Russell Lowell (1845). “Conversations on Some of the Old Poets”, p.67

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• None can be pleased without praise, and few can be praised without falsehood.

  Samuel Johnson

  Falsehood

  Samuel Johnson (1820). “The Rambler”, p.26

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• To what base ends, and by what abject ways, Are mortals urg'd through sacred lust of praise!

  Alexander Pope

  Lust, Sacred, Way

  Alexander Pope (1779). “The Works of the English Poets”, p.112

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• With faint praises one another damn.

  William Wycherley

  Damn

  The Plain Dealer prologue (1677) See Pope 32

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• Long open panegyric drags at best, And praise is only praise when well address'd.

  Phineas Fletcher

  Long, Addresses, Drag

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• There can hardly, I believe, be imagined a more desirable pleasure than that of praise unmixed with any possibility of flattery.

  Richard Steele

  Believe, Flattery, Pleasure

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1826). “The Spectator: With Notes, and a General Index”, p.310

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• Who would ever care to do brave deed,
  Or strive in virtue others to excel,
  If none should yield him his deserved meed
  Due praise, that is the spur of doing well?
  For if good were not praised more than ill,
  None would choose goodness of his own free will.

  Edmund Spenser

  Yield, Brave, Spurs

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• Praise me not too much,
  Nor blame me, for thou speakest to the Greeks
  Who know me.

  Homer

  Greek, Too Much, Blame

  Homer (1901). “The Iliad of Homer”, p.314

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• Wake up now, look alive, for here is a day off work just to praise Creation: the turkey, the squash, and the corn, these things that ate and drank sunshine, grass, mud, and rain, and then in the shortening days laid down their lives for our welfare and onward resolve. There's the miracle for you, the absolute sacrifice that still holds back seed: a germ of promise to do the whole thing again, another time. . . Thanksgiving is Creation's birthday party. Praise harvest, a pause and sigh on the breath of immortality.

  Barbara Kingsolver

  Party, Rain, Sunshine

  Barbara Kingsolver (2010). “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our Year of Seasonal Eating”, p.284, Faber & Faber

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• Or is it your reputation that's bothering you? But look at how soon we're all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of those applauding hands. The people who praise us; how capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region it takes place. The whole earth a point in space - and most of it uninhabited.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Bothering You, Endless Time, Hands

  Marcus Aurelius (2002). “Meditations: A New Translation”, p.38, Modern Library

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• Admonish your friends privately, but praise them openly.

  Publilius Syrus

  Friendship, Friends, Admonish

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• Among the smaller duties of life I hardly know any one more important than that of not praising where praise is not due.

  Sydney Smith

  Important, Duty, Knows

  Sydney Smith (1856). “Wit and Wisdom of the Rev. Sydney Smith”, p.202

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• Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you. Love me and I may be forced to love you.

  William Arthur Ward

  Love, Relationship, Leadership

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• I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism.

  Charles R. Schwab

  Inspirational, Leadership, Money

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• So, to praise others for their virtues - Can but encourage one's own efforts

  Akkineni Nagarjuna

  Encouragement, Helping Others, Effort

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• Fondly we think we honor merit then, when we but praise ourselves in other men.

  Alexander Pope

  Men, Thinking, Honor

  Alexander Pope (2015). “An Essay on Criticism”, p.14, Sheba Blake Publishing

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• We should not be too niggardly in our praise, for men will do more to support a character than to raise one.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Character, Men, Support

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.167

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• We are all excited by the love of praise, and the noblest are most influenced by glory.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Excited, Glory

  "Pro Archia Poeta". Oration by Marcus Tullius Cicero (Exordium (Introduction) line 11), 62 BC.

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• To please great men is not the last degree of praise.

  Horace

  Men, Degrees, Lasts

  "Epistles". I. 17. 35,

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• There are three kinds of praise, that which we yield, that which we lend, and that which we pay. We yield it to the powerful from fear, we lend it to the weak from interest, and we pay it to the deserving from gratitude.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Gratitude, Powerful, Yield

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.188

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• The praises of others may be of use in teaching us, not what we are, but what we ought to be.

  Augustus William Hare

  Teaching, Use, May

  Julius Charles Hare, Augustus William Hare, Edward Hayes Plumptre (1871). “Guesses at Truth”, p.491

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• Praise invariably implies a reference to a higher standard.

  Aristotle

  Standards, Higher Standards, Higher

  Aristotle (1987). “The Nicomachean Ethics”

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• Men prefer brief praise, pitched high; women are satisfied with praise in a lower key, just so it goes on and on.

  Mignon McLaughlin

  Men, Keys, Goes On

  Mignon McLaughlin (2014). “Aperçus: The Aphorisms of Mignon McLaughlin”, p.42, BookBaby

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• He, who praises you for what you have not, wishes to take from you what you have.

  Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena

  Wish

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• Religion makes good people better and bad people worse.

  H. Richard Niebuhr

  People, Religion, Atheism

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