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.
Cats will amusingly tolerate humans only until someone comes up with a tin opener that can be operated with a paw.
The bigger the humbug, the better people will like it.
All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.
The secret to humor is surprise.
It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had once made the remark) that whatever you say to them, they always purr.
I do note with interest that old women in my books become young women on the covers... this is discrimination against the chronologically gifted.
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