#flattery

What infinite heart's-ease Must kings neglect, that private men enjoy! And what have kings, that privates have not too, Save ceremony, save general ceremony? And what art thou, thou idle ceremony? What kind of god art thou, that suffer'st more Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers? What are thy rents? what are thy comings in? O ceremony, show me but thy worth! What is thy soul of adoration? Art thou aught else but place, degree and form, Creating awe and fear in other men? Wherein thou art less happy being fear'd Than they in fearing. What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet, But poison'd flattery? O, be sick, great greatness, And bid thy ceremony give thee cure! Think'st thou the fiery fever will go out With titles blown from adulation? Will it give place to flexure and low bending? Canst thou, when thou command'st the beggar's knee, Command the health of it? No, thou proud dream, That play'st so subtly with a king's repose; I am a king that find thee, and I know 'Tis not the balm, the sceptre and the ball, The sword, the mace, the crown imperial, The intertissued robe of gold and pearl, The farced title running 'fore the king, The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp That beats upon the high shore of this world, No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony, Not all these, laid in bed majestical, Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave, Who with a body fill'd and vacant mind Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread; Never sees horrid night, the child of hell, But, like a lackey, from the rise to set Sweats in the eye of Phoebus and all night Sleeps in Elysium; next day after dawn, Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse, And follows so the ever-running year, With profitable labour, to his grave: And, but for ceremony, such a wretch, Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep, Had the fore-hand and vantage of a king. The slave, a member of the country's peace, Enjoys it; but in gross brain little wots What watch the king keeps to maintain the peace, Whose hours the peasant best advantages. ↗

— William Shakespeare

#burdens #ceremony #emptiness #empty-form #equality

When I compliment you, I compliment myself, because I am who I associate with. ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#compliment #flattery #funny #wise #funny

We should keep silent about those in power; to speak well of them almost implies flattery; to speak ill of them while they are alive is dangerous, and when they are dead is cowardly. ↗

— Jean de la Bruyere

#alive #almost #cowardly #dangerous #dead

Flattery and insults raise the same question: What do you want? ↗

— Mason Cooley

#insults #question #raise #same #want

A president aiming for 'Great' or 'Near Great' status must do more. He must give lots of interviews, make records accessible, and heap the flattery on academia - each of which Mr. Bush has signally failed to do. ↗

— Thomas Frank

#accessible #aiming #bush #each #failed

Imitation is the sincerest flattery. ↗

— Mahatma Gandhi

#imitation #sincerest

He who says he hates every kind of flattery, and says it in earnest, certainly does not yet know every kind of flattery. ↗

— Georg C. Lichtenberg

#does #earnest #every #flattery #hates

I hate careless flattery, the kind that exhausts you in your efforts to believe it. ↗

— Wilson Mizner

#careless #efforts #exhausts #flattery #hate

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, but clones kind of get it wrong because we are promoting individuality and being proud of being yourself. ↗

— Brian Molko

#being #being proud #being yourself #clones #flattery

The aim of flattery is to soothe and encourage us by assuring us of the truth of an opinion we have already formed about ourselves. ↗

— Edith Sitwell

#aim #already #assuring #encourage #flattery