. . . it is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy. May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are the result of previous study? – Jane Austen
The reason that adulation is not displeasing is that, though untrue, it shows one to be of consequence enough, in one way or other, to induce people to lie. – Lord (George Gordon) Byron
History is full of the dead weight of things which have escaped the control of the mind, yet drive man on with a blind force. – Frederick Maurice Powicke, History, Freedom & Religion