I recommend to you, in my last, an innocent piece of art: that of flattering people behind their backs, in presence of those who, to make their own court, much more than for your sake, will not fail to repeat, and even amplify, the praise to the party concerned. This is of all flattery the most pleasing, and consequently the most effectual.

Another quote →

More quotes by Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

All Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.