“Flattery is nothing but attention without intention.”
“Few human beings are proof against the implied flattery of rapt attention.”
“There is nothing in the world more difficult than candor, and nothing easier than flattery. If there is a hundredth of a fraction of a false note to candor, it immediately produces dissonance, and as a result, exposure. But in flattery, even if everything is false down to the last note, it is still pleasant, and people will listen not without pleasure; with coarse pleasure, perhaps, but pleasure nevertheless.”
“Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery.”
“Because nothing says flattery like a gun to the head.”
“Love of another is merely empty flattery and self-deception for one who cannot accept himself without pretense.”