"Lay not that flattering unction to your..." - Quote by William Shakespeare
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul, That not your trespass but my madness speaks.
More by William Shakespeare
“Poor wretches that dependOn greatness' favor, dream as I have done;Wake, and find nothing.”
“Say, what abridgement have you for this evening?What masque, what music? How shall we beguileThe lazy time if not with some delight?”
“you saw her fair, none else being by,Herself pois'd with herself in either eye;But in that crystal scales let there be weigh'dYour lady's love against some other maidThat I will show you shining at this feast,And she shall scant show well that now seems best.”
More on Self Deception
“We sometimes think that we hate flattery, but we only hate the manner in which it is done.[Fr., On croit quelquefoir hair la flatterie; maid on ne hait que a maniere de flatter.]”
“The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than anyone else. You know it is sometimes very pleasant to take offense, isn't it? A man may know that nobody has insulted him, but that he has invented the insult for himself, has lied and exaggerated to make it picturesque, has caught at a word and made a mountain out of a molehill--he knows that himself, yet he will be the first to take offense, and will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it.”
“The most sure method of subjecting yourself to be deceived is to consider yourself more cunning than others.”
More on Flattery
“People who wish to numb our caution in dealing with them by means of flattery are employing a dangerous expedient, like a sleeping draught, which, if it does not put us to sleep, keeps us all the more awake.”
“Love of flattery, in most men, proceeds from the mean opinion they have of themselves; in women, from the contrary.”
“He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.”