Praise is flattery, artful, hidden, delicate, which gratifies differently him who praises and him who is praised. The one takes it as the reward of merit, the other bestows it to show his impartiality and knowledge.
I was a closet Journey fan when I was growing up.
Like other secret lovers, many speak mockingly about popular culture to conceal their passion for it.
I wasn't aware of it at the time, but I was a big favorite with the Mafia.
The whole point of being a closet fan of anything is that people aren't supposed to then out you and say that you're closet fans of stuff.
In a way, I was incredibly proud of her (not that I had any intention of letting it show while I was beating the crap out of her).
Men like women who write. Even though they don't say so. A writer is a foreign country.
In high school, it was very fashionable to be disdainful of the bourgeois suburbs, but I secretly liked them.
Adroit observers will find that some who affect to dislike flattery, may yet be flattered indirectly, by a well seasoned abuse and ridicule of their rivals.
Usually what happens is somebody grabs me and they always pull me off to the side. Nobody ever does it publically. They say, "I didn't want to be here." Or, "I don't usually like people like you." Or, "I didn't believe the things you actually talked about would work. I'm here to tell you that you converted me." That happens a lot.
