QuoteProject
I think a compliment ought always to precede a complaint, where one is possible, because it softens resentment and insures for the complaint a courteous and gentle reception.
Mark Twain
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

A compliment can help make a complaint more acceptable and less harsh.

In this quote, Mark Twain suggests that when we need to give feedback, especially if it's negative, starting with a compliment can create a more positive atmosphere. This approach softens the impact of the complaint, making it more likely to be received in a constructive manner rather than as an attack, thus maintaining respectful and cordial communication.

Themes

ComplimentComplaintCommunicationResilienceRelationships

In practice

Example use cases

In a business meeting when giving feedback on a team member's project.

More from Mark Twain

Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
The easy part of being an artist is figuring out the message that everyone else is ready to hear. The hard part is waiting for the proper lull to make the announcement.
Mark TwainRead
You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws, and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.
Mark TwainRead
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
Mark TwainRead
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
Mark TwainRead
In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.
Mark TwainRead

Similar quotes

Why is it that no one understands me and everybody likes me
Albert EinsteinRead
If you want to have the kind of relationship that your heart yearns for, you have to create it. You can't depend on somebody else creating it for you.
Gary ZukavRead
Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.
Mahatma GandhiRead
I find that people want aggressive policing if they as a community feel they are part of it. They don't want aggressive policing if they feel it's being imposed upon them and they are a target.
Loretta LynchRead
The relationship with my people, the Nigerian people, is very good. My relationship with the rulers has always been problematic.
Chinua AchebeRead
Women want love to be a novel, men a short story.
Daphne Du MaurierRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.