I know of no manner of speaking so offensive as that of giving praise, and closing it with an exception.
Richard Steele (1672–1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Essay (1709-11-10), The Tatler, No. 92
(Source)
Quotations about:
damn with faint praise
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Some reproaches praise; some praises reproach.
[Il y a des reproches qui louent, et des louanges qui médisent.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶148 (1665-1678) [tr. Bund/Friswell (1871)]
(Source)
Present in the 1st ed. (1665). Also see Pope (1724).
(Source (French)). Other translations:There are some who commend when they make account to reproach; and others whose praises are detractions.
[tr. Davies (1669), ¶166]Some Censures are a Commendation, and some Commendations are no better than Scandal.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶149]There are reproaches that praise, and praises that reproach.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶369; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶142]There are reproaches which give praise, and there are praises which reproach.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶323]There are reproaches which praise, and praises which convey satire.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶151]Censure often praises, and praise as frequently censures.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶148]Some reproaches are compliments, and some compliments slanders.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶148]Hard words can be praise, and praises can be slander.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶148]There are reproaches that compliment, and compliments that disparage.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶148]Some strictures can be compliments, and some compliments can be slanderous.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶148]There are reproaches which praise, and praises which slander.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶148]
