There is...a spiritual hunger in the world today and it cannot be satisfied...by better cars on longer credit terms.
Adlai E. StevensonRead
Flattery is all right so long as you don't inhale.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Flattery can be enjoyable but should be taken lightly.
This quote humorously suggests that while it is nice to receive compliments and flattery, one should not take them too seriously or become overly influenced by them. The metaphor of 'not inhaling' implies that flattery can be intoxicating, and consuming too much can lead to a distorted perception of reality.
Themes
FlatteryHumorComplimentsPerceptionReality
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about self-awareness, one might say, 'Remember, flattery is all right so long as you don't inhale.'
More from Adlai E. Stevenson
All quotes βWhat a man knows at fifty that he did not know at twenty is, for the most part, incommunicable.
Adlai E. StevensonRead
Journalists do not live by words alone, although sometimes they have to eat them.
Adlai E. StevensonRead
Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.
Adlai E. StevensonRead
Accuracy to a newspaper is what virtue is to a lady; but a newspaper can always print a retraction.
Adlai E. StevensonRead
I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends... that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.
Adlai E. StevensonRead
Similar quotes
This was not Aunt Dahlia, my good and kindly aunt, but my Aunt Agatha, the one who chews broken bottles and kills rats with her teeth.
P. G. WodehouseRead
I want to give a really BAD party. I mean it. I want to give a party where thereβs a brawl and seductions and people going home with their feelings hurt and women passed out in the cabinet de toilette. You wait and see.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
The truth is, if anything, I'm probably addicted to laughter.
Robin WilliamsRead
I've been on a calendar, but I've never been on time.
Marilyn MonroeRead
and then I decided I was a lemon for a couple of weeks.
Douglas AdamsRead
Political satire became obsolete when they awarded Henry Kissinger the Nobel Peace Prize.
Tom LehrerRead