Nothing’s flat about flattery: Just for laughs 

There’s nothing like a sweet nothing in the ear of a listener. And egos, they say, come in various shapes and sizes, just as men do. The shrewd eye will know, however, there’s much to gain from apple-polishing a man’s ego, than riding his own horse over the fence. The egoist doesn’t tolerate egoism, just as two lions don’t share a den. 

The fox, they say, finds a fool as surely as a pigeon does a perch. Quote William Shakespeare (Timon of Athens): “He that loves to be flattered is worthy of the flatterer.” Delusion is a deed upon which many feed indeed. For flattery is an art that never springs from the heart. 

“What flatters a man is that you think him worth flattering,” said George Bernard Shaw. And it’s flattery that fools the fathead, just as fuel fans the flames. Those who feed on flattery only live in a fool’s paradise. But for those who want an honest piece of advice, here’s Elizabethan poet William Dunbar’s little rhyme: 

Flattery wearis any furrit gown/ And fabet with the lord does roun/ And truth stands barrit at the dine