Sweet is the voice of a sister in the season of sorrow.
Benjamin DisraeliRead
Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with a trowel.
Interpretation
Flattery is often expected, especially among those in power, and should be given generously.
This quote by Benjamin Disraeli humorously underscores the idea that those in positions of authority, such as royalty, often appreciate and even expect excessive praise. It suggests that to navigate such relationships successfully, one should be prepared to indulge in such flattery, metaphorically using a 'trowel' to emphasize the need for generous application.
In practice
In a speech about leadership, one might quote Disraeli to illustrate how leaders often thrive on flattery.
Sweet is the voice of a sister in the season of sorrow.
But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day.
Grief is the agony of an instant. The indulgence of grief the blunder of a life.
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.
Yes, I am a Jew and when the ancestors of the right honorable gentleman were brutal savages in an unknown island, mine were priests in the temple of Solomon.
The practice of politics in the East may be defined by one word: dissimulation.
To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it!
According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.
Some men there are love not a gaping pig, some that are mad if they behold a cat, and others when the bagpipe sings I the nose cannot contain their urine.
Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.
We do have a zeal for laughter in most situations, give or take a dentist.
That young girl is one of the least benightedly unintelligent organic life forms it has been my profound lack of pleasure not to be able to avoid meeting.
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