On Praise

Praise for what is not praiseworthy is mere flattery. All the more so, if fair words gain advantage. Praise even of the dead is suspect if it flatters survivors. Persons in authority must be wary of false praise: be mindful that for every man who praises you, ninety-nine hold their peace or mutter imprecations aside.  A friend of long standing said to me, "You are the hardest person to praise of anyone I've ever known," by which words he meant to tax me, but which I took as compliment. I offer praise generously when it is merited, but not for ordinary deeds. Of a churlish man, it was justly said at his funeral, that he was a good speller; of a sloven, that his fingernails had never been so clean. Praise need not be effusive and is most sincere if simply couched. I was once most happy to be praised, when a discreet man, looking over a landscape of which I am vain, said to a friend who marveled, "He works on it."  Of all virtues, I am most apt to praise diligence, the want of which I deplore in myself. Children are most easy to praise as they know not irony.

Comments

[Otis Jefferson Brown]

Even your replies to our comments are beautifully crafted.

[Vivian de St. Vrain]

Thanks, Dinu. Your words of praise are ever so eloguent.

[Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo]

Dr. Metablog, your humor is phenomenal. I request you to consider a reader's guide to your pieces, that footnotes subtleties not always evident to the literarily uninformed, like me. I can't recall any other blague of this writing quality.

[Otis Jefferson Brown]

Dr. Morrison, didn't I see you in "Red River"?

[Marion Morrison, Ph. D.]

Spike: it's clear that you've never read much. The entry is written as if by Francis Bacon. In my opinion, however, it's not a very good imitation, although there are one or two good sentences.

[Spike Schapiro]

Hey Dr. M: why are you writing in such an affected style today?

[Vivian Hussein de St. Vrain]

Vivian Hussein de St. Vrain joyfully accepts plants if they fit into Vivian's long range gardening scheme. Also, dried fruits except the sort that lead to bezoars.

[Kerry]

Praise from Vivian Hussein de St. Vrain is accepted with embarrassment, then tucked away and (nearly) forgotten, only to be pulled out into the light at a later hour, when, in privacy, it gives greatest pleasure.

Viv is also the hardest person to give a gift to.

(So. How's that dew drying?)

[Vivian Hussein de St. Vrain]

Thank you. I've revised my will to leave you all my $millions.

[Otis Jefferson Brown]

That's the greatest piece of prose I've ever read. You're fantastic.