“His (Deschamps') complaint of court life was the same as is made of government at the top in any age: it was composed of hypocrisy, flattery, lying, paying and betraying; it was where calumny and cupidity reigned, common sense lacked, truth dared not appear, and where to survive one had to be deaf, blind, and dumb.” MadeGovernmentAgeLyingCommonBlindCourtCommon SenseDumbHypocrisyBetrayComplaintsFlatteryDeafCalumny Book:A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century Source: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
“Slander, in the strict meaning of the term, comes under the head of lying; but it is a kind of lying which, like its antithesis flattery, ought to be set apart for special censure.” KindLyingTermSpecialOughtStrictFlatterySlanderCensureAntithesis Book:Things New and Old in Discourses of Christian Truth and Life Source: Things New and Old in Discourses of Christian Truth and Life
“There is no detraction worse than to overpraise a man, for if his worth proves short of what report doth speak of him, his own actions are ever giving the lie to his honor.” IfsMenGivingActionLyingSpeakHonorProveReportsFlattery Author:Owen Feltham
“You cannot rationalize what is not rational to begin with - as if lying were called truthization. There is no way to obtain more truth for a proposition by bribery, flattery, or the most passionate argument - you can make more people believe the proposition, but you cannot make it more true.” PeopleIfsWayBelieveLyingArgumentPassionateRationalPropositionsFlatteryRationalizeBribery Author:Eliezer Yudkowsky