153 Praise Quotes

It is as great a spite to be praised in the wrong place, and by a wrong person, as can be done to a noble nature.

Praise the invisible sun burning beyond the white cold sky, giving us light and the chimney's shadow.

This food-and-shelter theory concerning man's efforts is without insight. Our most persistent and spectacular efforts are concerned not with the preservation of what we are but with the building up of an imaginary conception of ourselves in the opinion of others. The desire for praise is more imperative than the desire for food and shelter.

Flowers rejoice when night is done, Lift their heads to greet the sun; Sweetest looks and odours raise, In a silent hymn of praise.

He has great tranquility of heart who cares neither for the praises nor the fault-finding of men.

The flattery of posterity is not worth much more than contemporary flattery, which is worth nothing.

The chief difference between words and deeds is that words are always intended for men for their approbation, but deeds can be done only for God.

I have been complimented many times and they always embarrass me; I always feel that they have not said enough.

Some asked me where the rubies grew, And nothing I did say; But with my finger pointed to The lips of Julia.

The praise of ancient authors proceeds not from the reverence of the dead, but from the competition and mutual envy of the living.

Soul of the age! The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage! My Shakespeare, rise; I will not lodge thee by Chaucer or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie A little further, to make thee a room; Thou art a monument, without a tomb, And art alive still, while thy book doth live, And we have wits to read, and praise to give.

To receive applause for works which do not demand all our powers hinders our advance towards a perfecting of our spirit. It usually means that thereafter we stand still.

Philosophers are as jealous as women. Each wants a monopoly of praise.

He who praises everybody praises nobody.

The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.

In the Army of the Shenandoah, you were the First Brigade! In the Army of the Potomac you were the First Brigade! In the Second Corps of this Army, you are the First Brigade! You are the First Brigade in the affections of your general, and I hope by your future deeds and bearing you will be handed down the posterity as the First Brigade in this our Second War of Independence. Farewell!

O Popular Applause! what heart of man Is proof against thy sweet seducing charms?

Only a humorless tyrant could want a perpetual chanting of praises that, one has no choice but to assume, would be the innate virtues and splendors furnished him by his creator, infinite regression, drowned in praise!

I don't know anyone who is more admired and respected in the international community than President Karzai, for his strength, for his wisdom and for his courage to lead this country, first in defeat of the Taliban and now a democratic and unified Afghanistan. And I can tell you I am with foreign ministers and with heads of state all over the world. I sit in the councils of NATO. I sit with the EU. I sit with people all over the world and there is great admiration for your president and also for what the Afghan people are doing here.

The love of praise, howe'er concealed by art, Reigns more or less, and glows in ev'ry heart.

Thou large-brained woman and large-hearted man.

All things counter, original, spare, strange; Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim; He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: Praise him.

My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others, and that's nice too, but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about the success.

The honour is overpaid, When he that did the act is commentator.

Madam, methinks I see him living yet; So well your words his noble virtues praise, That all both judge you to relate them true, And to possess them, honour'd Margaret.

The greatest efforts of the race have always been traceable to the love of praise, as its greatest catastrophes to the love of pleasure.

She is a winsome wee thing, She is a handsome wee thing, She is a lo'esome wee thing, This sweet wee wife o' mine.

All censure of a man's self is oblique praise. It is in order to shew how much he can spare.

You say, as I have often given tongue In praise of what another's said or sung, 'Twere politic to do the like by these; But was there ever a dog that praised his fleas?

Awake, awake, my Lyre! And tell thy silent master's humble tale In sounds that may prevail; Sounds that gentle thoughts inspire: Though so exalted she And I so lowly be Tell her, such different notes make all thy harmony.

Steadfast of thought, Well made, well wrought, Far may be sought, Ere that ye can find So courteous, so kind As merry Margaret, This midsummer flower, Gentle as falcon Or hawk of the tower.

Nothing is so great an instance of ill manners as flattery. If you flatter all the company, you please none; if you flatter only one or two, you affront the rest.

She's as good as the other Hepburn.

You are among the two or three most talented people I have ever met in politics.

Why, it's a perfect little city. If you have never been to Durham, go there at once. Take my car. It's wonderful.

I have met all the most gifted people in our generation and you're the best.

She's the ornament of her sex.

This movie's so good I gotta bust a cap in it!

You praise a man for having killed his enemy by means of an advantage; and by praising him for boldness you praise him for a sin against nature, because boldness leads to destruction.

Plygain y darllain deirllith, Plu yw ei gasul i'n plith. Pell y clywir uwch tiroedd Ei lef o lwyn a'i loyw floedd. Proffwyd rhiw, praff awdur hoed, Pencerdd gloyw angerdd glyngoed.

All the girls say they love me all their mums say I'm lovely - ever since I lived in the clouds.

Prince : (Every shoot he takes) Good..

He was the firstest with the mostest.

The most honest, courageous politician I have ever met. - Jesse Jackson during a 1984 visit to Havana.

He's the greatest architect of the nineteenth century.

When you talk about Fred Astaire, you talk about heaven. What more can I say?

Mr Dyson is absolutely unusual in his ability and accomplishments. I can say without reservation that he is the best I have ever had or observed.

I have had my share of vanity; for as a young man I was admired by women; and as a statue I am praised by art critics.

Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job.

One of the greatest captains of the age.

Rossini, divino Maestro, Helios von Italien, der du deine klingenden Strahlen uber die Welt verbreitest!

It is always hard to hear people say such nice things about us, because quite honestly I feel very privileged and honored to be of service in any way I can. I think that is my mission here on earth in some way -- whether it is entertaining people or trying to help in whatever way I can. So [the attention and acclaim] is pretty embarrassing to me.

Once again [with the CD 'Unwrapped'], Gloria's mission is accomplished. As an entertainer, a vocalist and a writer, she has invited the world into her heart. The result is nothing short of incomparable.

Atqui si vitiis mediocribus ac mea paucis mendosa est natura, alioqui recta, velut si egregio inspersos reprehendas corpore naevos, si neque avaritiam neque sordes nec mala lustra obiciet vere quisquam mihi, purus et insons, ut me collaudem, si et vivo carus amicis... at hoc nunc laus illi debetur et a me gratia maior. nil me paeniteat sanum patris huius, eoque non, ut magna dolo factum negat esse suo pars, quod non ingenuos habeat clarosque parentis, sic me defendam.

A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath Than my sonne's wife, Elizabeth.

That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp.

Joni, you have more class than Richard Nixon, Mick Jagger, and Gomer Pyle combined!

'He's the most beautiful man who ever walked the earth ...' - Naomi Watts (People magazine, November 24, 2004)

Panegyric upon Julian by Libanius, who knew him well and admired him.

You say we're fantastic, But still we don't head the bill. Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Unbelievable!

Ooh, yeah, you're amazing! We think you are really cool. We'd give you a part, my love, But you'd have to play the fool.

By all that 's good and glorious.

Margaret Thatcher is the greatest living Englishwoman.

Enough, enough, enough! Say no more! Lump the whole thing! say that the Creator made Italy from designs by Michael Angelo!

'He's kicking such major ass that it's insane!'

When God was giving out talent, He gave all of it to Michael Jackson.

The truth seems to be, that like many other geniuses, this Man of Mosses takes great delight in hoodwinking the world, - at least, with respect to himself. Personally, I doubt not, that he rather prefers to be generally esteemed but a so-so sort of author; being willing to reserve the thorough and acute appreciation of what he is, to that party most qualified to judge - that is, to himself. Besides, at the bottom of their natures, men like Hawthorne, in many things, deem the plaudits of the public such strong presumptive evidence of mediocrity in the object of them, that it would in some degree render them doubtful of their own powers, did they hear much and vociferous braying concerning them in the public.

The ardent and holy Novalis...

Here, first of all men for pure justice famed, And moral virtue, Aristocles lies; And if there e'er has lived one truly wise, This man was wiser still; too great for envy.

Oh, could you view the melody Of every grace And music of her face, You'd drop a tear; Seeing more harmony In her bright eye Than now you hear.

Dear God, who are the whole splendor of things and the sacred stars, but also the cruelty and greed, the treacheries And vileness, insanities and filth and anguish: now that this thing comes near us again I am finding it hard To praise you with a whole heart.

Roy Campbell was one of the very few great poets of our time. His poems are of great stature, and have a giant's strength and power of movement. They have, too, an extraordinary sensuous beauty. Everything is transformed to greatness.

Cold approbation gave the ling'ring bays, For those who durst not censure, scarce could praise.

He's not made one mistake in this war, not one [on President Bush's handling of the Iraq War]

He who discommendeth others obliquely commendeth himself.

'Huxley, I believe, was the greatest Englishman of the nineteenth century.'

As pure a son of liberty as I have ever known.

Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! Jehovah has triumphed-his people are free.

'Oh my! What a manuever!'

Lolita is one of our finest American novels, a triumph of style and vision, an unforgettable work, Nabokov's best (though not most characteristic) work, a wedding of Swiftian satirical vigor with the kind of minute, loving patience that belongs to a man infatuated with the visual mysteries of the world.

My father...one of the great immorals, er, immortals, of our time.

Low ambition and the thirst of praise.

The greatest Chancellor of all time.

Yet was Rob Roy as wise as brave; Forgive me if the phrase be strong;- A Poet worthy of Rob Roy Must scorn a timid song.

A modest man, who has much to be modest about.

The most delightful of all music, that of your own praises.

Fra tutti il primo Arnaldo Daniello Gran maestro d'amor; ch'a la sua terra Ancor fa onor col suo dir strano e bello.

'I'm saying that a lot of Christians want to be recognized for their godliness, and a lot of people mistake the recognition for godliness itself.'

Marcia: Hayley, I congratulate you from a singers point of view because that's a very hard song to sing. George are the bomb. You did a great job.

Marcia: (Laughs) Well done Hayley! Sex kitten to boot.

'Harry loves schmaltz, is there something wrong with that? He makes perhaps the best schmaltz I've ever had.' (from 'Flower Lady #2')

'You are a one terrific athlete' (to Torrie Wilson)