Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
People feel flattered when they believe someone values their opinion enough to flatter them.
In plain terms
Men like being flattered because it shows you think they are important.
What can you take from it?
Flattery works because it signals respect.

Where it applies

  • social interaction
  • negotiation

Putting it to work

  • offer genuine appreciation
  • use flattery carefully

Questions to consider

  • Is flattery manipulation or connection?
  • What do we seek when flattered?

Another view

Sincere compliments are often better than calculated flattery.

More from George Bernard Shaw

  1. You can't be a hero without being a coward. (Preface)

    Permalink to quote #145
  2. My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world.

    Permalink to quote #147
  3. A healthy nation is as unconscious of its nationality as a healthy man of his bones. But if you break a nation's nationality it will think of nothing else but …

    Permalink to quote #144

Related quotes

  1. If I go up to Harlem or down to Sixth Street, and I'm not dressed up or I'm not wearing my jewelry, then the people feel I'm talking down to them.

    Brooke AstorBrooke Astor quote #1
  2. L'amour-propre est le plus grand de tous les flatteurs.

    Francois de La RochefoucauldFrancois de La Rochefoucauld quote #3
  3. Every one that flatters thee Is no friends in misery. Words are easy, like the wind; Faithful friends are hard to find. Every man will be thy friend Whilst tho…

    Richard BarnfieldRichard Barnfield quote #4