Theophrastus Quotes

You can pander, but you've got to do it in a way that doesn't seem like pandering.

Flattery is like cologne water, to be smelt, not swallowed.

The world of this is a load of crap. You get all these bloody people, so incredibly sycophantic.

I can't sing and I can't dance, but I can lick any S.O.B. in the house.

The fawning courtier and the surly squire often mean the same thing,--each his own interest.

Take care how you listen to the voice of the flatterer, who, in return for his little stock, expects to derive from you considerable advantage. If one day you do not comply with his wishes, be imputes to you two hundred defects instead of perfections.

Sucking up to the biggies won't get us anywhere.

Flattery in courtship is the highest insolence, for whilst it pretends to bestow on you more than you deserve, it is watching an opportunity to take from you what you really have.

Knavery and flattery are blood relations.

All flatterers live at the expense of those who listen to them.

I can’t afford to have my Vice President who knows every reporter in town, go around saying we’re all screwed up, so we’re going to keep him happy. You are dealing with a very insecure, sensitive man with a huge ego. I want you to literally kiss his ass from one end of Washington to the other.

Learn that every flatterer Lives at the flattered listeners cost.

Flattery labors under the odious charge of servility.

We should always speak what would please the man of whom we expect a favour,like the hunter who sings sweetly when he desires to shoot a deer.

None but an ass pays a compliment and asks a favour at the same time. There are many asses.

Flattery and deceit are the darlings of great men, and so with these men spread the butter on thick, if you want to get something out of them, otherwise you'll come home to me with a full belly and an empty purse.

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.

I cannot think of any character below the flatterer, except he who envies him.

Flattery is all right so long as you don't inhale.

The fellow that agrees with everything you say is either a fool or he is getting ready to skin you.

There have been many great men that have flattered the people who ne'er loved them.

Commend a fool for his wit, or a rogue for his honesty and he will receive you into his favor.

Everyone always tells you that you're the only one that can do this or that role right, and if you say no, they go to somebody else and tell them that they're the only one that can do it right. But when they're talking to you, you're always the 'Best Actor of Your Generation.'

Nothing is more despicable than to reach fame by crawling, position by cringing.