You have heard me accused me of being a flatterer. It is true. I am a flatterer. I have found it useful. Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with a trowel.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Disraeli admits he uses flattery intentionally, especially when dealing with royalty.
- In plain terms
- Flattery is useful, so apply it generously to important people.
- What can you take from it?
- Adapt your behavior to suit your audience for maximum effect.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is flattery ever honest?
- How do you handle power dynamics?
Another view
Reliance on flattery can undermine authenticity.
More from Benjamin Disraeli
Without publicity there can be no public support, and without public support every nation must decay.
Permalink to quote #241 You will find as you grow older that courage is the rarest of all qualities to be found in public life.
Permalink to quote #243 William Gladstone has not a single redeeming defect.
Permalink to quote #240
Related quotes
If you would work any man, you must either know his nature and fashions, and so lead him; or his ends, and so persuade him or his weakness and disadvantages, a…
Francis BaconFrancis Bacon quote #130 I have earned capitol, and I intend to spend it.
George W. BushGeorge W. Bush quote #170 Though Hitler was indeed racist and anti-Semitic to the core, a man who without compunction could commit murder and genocide, he was also an individual of grea…
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler quote #201