Although a skillful flatterer is a most delightful companion if you have him all to yourself, his taste becomes very doubtful when he takes to complimenting other people.
Interpretation
Flattery can be enjoyable in private but loses value when shared with others.
This quote by Charles Dickens highlights the dual nature of flattery. While a skillful flatterer can be charming and enjoyable when directed towards you, their praise may seem disingenuous or suspicious when they offer it to others. It suggests that flattery can create a sense of intimacy, but its worth diminishes in a social context where it appears less thoughtful or authentic.
In practice
This quote is perfect for a discussion on authentic relationships in a workplace.
I recollected one story there was in the village, how that on a certain night in the year (it might be that very night for anything I knew), all the dead people came out of the ground and sat at the heads of their own graves till morning.
A silent look of affection and regard when all other eyes are turned coldly away-the consciousness that we possess the sympathy and affection of one being when all others have deserted us-is a hold, a stay, a comfort, in the deepest affliction, which no wealth could purchase, or power bestow.
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.
There are not a few among the disciples of charity who require, in their vocation, scarcely less excitement than the votaries of pleasure in theirs.
You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.
Christmas is a poor excuse every 25th of December to pick a man's pockets.
Trust has to be earned, and should come only after the passage of time.
And sometimes I have kept my feelings to myself, because I could find no language to describe them in.
Having felt people's love and support first hand through difficult moments in my life makes me feel it's our responsibility to help one another.
Loneliness had taught Harriet that there was always someone who understood - it was just so often that they were dead, and in a book.
Countless mistakes in marriage, parenting, ministry, and other relationships are failures to balance grace and truth. Sometimes we neglect both. Often we choose one over the other.
The act of sending a letter is an act of generosity, even if, in retrospect, it might seem reckless. Why regret one's generosity? Why regret one's impulsiveness, one's misjudgment of others? The inevitable discovery that someone is selling letters you'd written in trust is simply to discover an obvious human truth: there are those who don't cherish us as we'd cherished them, and had wished to be cherished by them.
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