quotations about praise
He who praises every body, praises nobody.
SAMUEL JOHNSON
"Johnsoniana", The European Magazine and London Review, January 1785
None of us are so much praised or censured as we think; and most men would be thoroughly cured of their self-importance, if they would only rehearse their own funeral, and walk abroad incognito, the very day after that on which they were supposed to have been buried.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Conceited people never hear anything but praise.
ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
The Little Prince
It is more or less rude to scorn indiscriminately all kinds of praise; we ought to be proud of that which comes from honest men, who praise sincerely those things in us which are really commendable.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Society and of Conversation", Les Caractères
The praise we seek for our own virtues sometimes tempts us to flatter the imperfections of other men.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
Praise is what I do
When I want to be close to You,
I lift my hands in praise.
Praise is who I am,
I will praise Him while I can.
I'll bless Him at all times.
WILLIAM MURPHY
"Praise Is What I Do"
Men prefer brief praise, pitched high; women are satisfied with praise in a lower key, just so it goes on and on.
MIGNON MCLAUGHLIN
The Neurotic's Notebook
Praise follows truth afar off, and only overtakes her at the grave.
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
Conversations on Some of the Old Poets
Praise doesn't pay the bills.
GERMAN PROVERBS
Long open panegyric drags at best,
And praise is only praise when well address'd.
JOHN GAY
Epistle I
The worthlessness of common praise--
The dry-rot of the mind,
By which its temple secretly
But fast is undermin'd!
LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON
"Poetical Portrats: No. III"
Some praises proceed merely of flattery; and if he be an ordinary flatterer, he will have certain common attributes, which may serve every man; if he be a cunning flatterer, he will follow the archflatterer, which is a man's self; and wherein a man thinketh best of himself, therein the flatterer will uphold him most: but if he be an impudent flatterer, look wherein a man is conscious to himself, that he is most defective, and is most out of countenance in himself, that will the flatterer entitle him to perforce, spreta conscientia.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Praise", Essays, or Counsels Civil and Moral
And if I please you so, my lover,
Remember praise is comely
COUNTEE CULLEN
The Medea and Some Poems
The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.
NORMAN VINCENT PEALE
The Power of Positive Thinking
The love of praise is the beginning of forfeiture.
ARAB PROVERB
Praise or blame has but a momentary effect on the man whose love of beauty in the abstract makes him a severe critic on his own works.
JOHN KEATS
letter to James Hessey, October 9, 1818
Praise is simply holy applause. Praise is simply the cosmic song that is sung by everything and everyone on earth. Praise is the reason that everything exists. Without praise, life as we know it could not be. Praise is not an idea or a philosophical notion. Praise is the universal seed.
MARCIA ZINA MAGER
Believing in Faeries
A man's praises have very musical and charming accents in another's mouth; but very flat and untuneable in his own.
XENOPHON
attributed, Day's Collacon
Every man likes his own praise best.
DANISH PROVERB
I love criticism just so long as it's unqualified praise.
NOEL COWARD
attributed, 20,000 Quips & Quotes