The meanest most contemptible kind of praise is that which first speaks well of a man and then qualifies it with a 'but'.
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flattery
/flattery-quotes-and-sayings
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Quotes filed under flattery
Praise to the undeserving is severe satire.
Among the smaller duties in life I hardly know any one more important than that of not praising when praise is not due.
It is simpler and easier to flatter men than to praise them.
He who gladly does without the praise of the crowd will not miss the opportunity of becoming his own fan.
The advantage of doing one's praising to oneself is that one can lay it on so thick and exactly in the right places.
Be advised that all flatterers live at the expense of those who listen to them.
Self-praise is no recommendation.
An ingenuous mind feels in unmerited praise the bitterest reproof.
Flattery is all right - if you don't inhale.
A rich man's joke is always funny.
What really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattery.
Some natures are too good to be spoiled by praise.
It's pleasant to hear these nice words while I'm still alive. I'd rather have the taffy than the epitaphy.
Let us now praise famous men and our fathers that begat us.
Commendation n: the tribute that we pay to achievements that resemble but do not equal our own.
Nobody roots for Goliath.
In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath.