You may set it down as a truth which admits of few exceptions, that those who ask your opinion really want your praise, and will be contented with nothing less.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894) American poet, essayist, scholar

Article (1858-10), “The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly
    (Source)

Collected in The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. 12 (1858)