Learn to quote from Plutarch with this selection of quotes about flattery and flatterers or sycophants.
The following Plutarch (A/D/ 46-120) quotes come from The Stoic's Bible, edited by Giles Laurén. He based them on the Loeb edition of the relevant text by Plutarch.
SOURCE. Plutarch. Moralia. LCL. 14 vols.
1. Flattery Thrives in Rich Climates
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Flattery does not attend upon poor, obscure or unimportant persons, but makes itself an obstacle and pestilence to great houses and great affairs.
Plutarch. Mor.1.
Plutarch. Mor.1.
2. Alcibiades the Shape-Shifter
The greatest flatterer was Alcibiades who at Athens was a frivolous jester, kept a racing stable and led a life of urbanity and enjoyment; in Lacedaemon he cropped his hair, wore coarse clothing and bathed in cold water; in Thrace he was a fighter and hard drinker; in Tissaphernes he took to soft living, luxury and pretentiousness.Plutarch. Mor.1.
3. To Distinguish Friend From Flatterer From Physician
The flatterer thinks he ought to do anything to be agreeable, while the friend by always doing what he ought to do is ofttimes agreeable and sometimes disagreeable not from any desire to be disagreeable. He is like the physician who administers an unpleasant remedy.Plutarch. Mor.1.
4. Character Determines Whether It's Friend or Flatterer
The good man takes no less delight in his friends than the bad man in his flatterers.Plutarch. Mor.1.
5. Beware Your Quest for Approval
If our own conscience protests and refuses to accept praise then it is proof against the flatterer.Plutarch. Mor.1.
6. Flattery Masked as Frankness
Once when Tiberius Caesar came to the Senate one of the flatterers rose and said that they ought, being free men, to speak frankly and not dissemble or refrain from discussing anything that might be for the general good. Having thus aroused general admiration, in the ensuing silence, as Tiberius gave ear, he said: Listen Caesar to the charges which we are making against you but which no one dares to speak out. You do not take proper care of yourself, you are prodigal of your bodily strength, you are continually wearing it out in your anxieties and labours in our behalf, you give yourself no respite either by day or by night. As he drew out a long string of such phrases Cassius Severus remarked: Such frankness as this will be the death of this man!Plutarch. Mor.1. p.323.
7. They Prey Upon You
The flatterer is always covertly on the watch for some emotion to pamper. Are you angry? Punish them. Do you crave anything? Buy it. Are you afraid? Flee. Are you suspicious? Give it credence.Plutarch. Mor.1.
8. Flatterers Don't Help
The flatterer is unable to help another with words or money or to back him in a quarrel, yet he makes no excuses when it comes to underhand actions.Plutarch. Mor.1.
9. Prime Yourself
We must eradicate self-love and conceit, because by flattering us beforehand they render us less resistant to flatterers.Plutarch. Mor.1.
10. But Be Kind
Just as it is shameful to flatter when aiming to please, so it is a shameful when trying to avoid flattery to destroy the friendly thoughtfulness of another by immoderate speech.Plutarch. Mor.1.
