Dorothy Day Quotes

There is no belittling worse than to over praise a man.

I get a lot of people coming up to me and saying, 'I really hate you.' And they say it in the nicest possible way, and I accept it. It's the people who come up to you and say, 'I really liked your character. Man, he was right!' Those are the ones you worry about.

We tell only part of a man's qualities in his presence, and all of them when he is not present.

They speak very well of you". - "They speak very well of everybody." - "That so bad?" - "Yes. It means you can´t trust them.

Your denial is beneath you, and thanks to the use of hallucinogenic drugs, I see through you.

Praise undeserved, is satire in disguise.

Churchill was one of the few men I have met who even in the flesh give me the impression of genius. George Bernard Shaw is another. It is amusing to know that each thinks the other is overrated.

Between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt.

Since we have to speak well of the dead, let's knock them while they're alive.

The world of this is a load of crap. You get all these bloody people, so incredibly sycophantic.

It’s better to be quotable than to be honest.

Neither man nor angel can discern Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible, except to God alone.

A politician normally flatters you in your face and criticises you behind your back.

I know of no manner of speaking so offensive as that of giving praise, and closing it with an exception.

I may be wrong, but it seems rare in our age to find a widely praised person whose own mouth is not the source of that praise.

Sometimes we think we dislike flattery, but it is only the way it is done that we dislike.

Praise to the undeserving is severe satire.

Buddha says: "Do not flatter your benefactor!". Let one repeat this saying in a Christian church : it immediately purifies the air of everything Christian.

In Leon's account of his life, no-one was mean-spirited, no-one schemed or lied or betrayed; everyone was celebrated at least in some degree... Leon turned out to be a spineless, grinning idiot.

Never worry about what you say to a man. They're so conceited that they never believe you mean it if it's unflattering.

There are two things which ought to teach us to think but meanly of human glory; the very best have had their calumniators, the very worst their panegyrists.

To speak well of a base man is much the same as speaking ill of a good man.

We often select envenomed praise which, by a reaction upon those we praise, shows faults we could not have shown by other means.

Of all sorts of flattery, that which comes from a solemn character and stands before a sermon is the worst-complexioned. Such commendation is a satire upon the author, makes the text look mercenary, and disables the discourse from doing service.