People keep working in a freelance world, and more and more of today’s world is freelance, because their work is good, and because they are easy to get along with, and because they deliver the work on time. And you don’t even need all three. Two out of three is fine. People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your work is good and you deliver it on time. People will forgive the lateness of the work if it’s good, and if they like you. And you don’t have to be as good as the others if you’re on time and it’s always a pleasure to hear from you.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Speech (2012-05-17), Commencement, University of the Arts, Philadelphia [14:10]
(Source)
Quotations about:
likeability
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
In daily life we are more often liked for our defects than for our qualities.
[Nous plaisons plus souvent dans le commerce de la vie par nos défauts que par nos bonnes qualités.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶90 (1665-1678) [tr. Tancock (1959)]
(Source)
This first appeared in the 5th Ed. (1678). See bottom for parallel maxims.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:We are often more agreeable through our faults, than through our good qualities.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶130; [ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶97]We often appear to be more agreeable in our faults than in our good qualities.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶114]In the intercourse of life we more often please by our faults than our good qualities.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶232]In the intercourse of life, we please more by our faults than by our good qualities.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶90]In everyday existence we please others more by our faults than by our merits.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶228]In the ordinary intercourse of life our faults give more pleasure than our virtues.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶90]In daily life our faults are frequently more pleasant than our good qualities.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶90]In the business of living our faults are often more attractive than our virtues.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶90]In our dealings with the world, we often please more by our faults than by our good qualities.
[tr. Whichello (2016), ¶90]
The attractiveness of vice or faults versus virtue in human nature was not an uncommon theme in La Rochefoucauld's maxims. Consider the following:There are some who are disgusting in their merits, and others who please with their faults.
[tr. Winchello (2016), ¶155]
[Il y a des gens dégoûtants avec du mérite, et d’autres qui plaisent avec des défauts.]
[1st ed.]There are people whose faults beseem them well, and others whose good qualities disgrace them.
[tr. Winchello (2016), ¶251]
[Il y a des personnes à qui les défauts siéent bien, et d’autres qui sont disgraciées avec leurs bonnes qualités.]
[1st ed.]There are people who enjoy the approval of the world whose sole merit consists in their having vices that are useful in the general affairs of life.
[tr. Winchello (2016), ¶273]
[Il y a des gens, qu’on approuve dans le monde, qui n’ont pour tout mérite que les vices qui servent au commerce de la vie.]
[1st ed.]There are certain faults which, when displayed in a flattering light, shine more brightly than virtue itself.
[tr. Winchello (2016), ¶354]
[Il y a de certains défauts qui, bien mis en œuvre, brillent plus que la vertu même.]
[4th ed.]There are bad qualities which make for great talents.
[tr. Winchello (2016), ¶468]
[Il y a de méchantes qualités qui font de grands talents.]
[5th ed.]
Usually the things you dislike in a person are his defenses against fear.
Lucy Freeman (1916-2004) American journalist, author
Fight Against Fears, ch. 17 [John] (1951)
(Source)
A comment she records from John, her psychoanalyst, but usually attributed to her.
If by the age of forty a man is still disliked there is no hope for him.
[年四十而見惡焉、其終也已。]
Confucius (c. 551- c. 479 BC) Chinese philosopher, sage, politician [孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ, K'ung Fu-tzu, K'ung Fu Tse), 孔子 (Kǒngzǐ, Chungni), 孔丘 (Kǒng Qiū, K'ung Ch'iu)]
The Analects [論語, 论语, Lúnyǔ], Book 17, verse 26 (17.26) (6th C. BC – AD 3rd C.) [tr. Lau (1979)]
(Source)
(Source (Chinese)). Alternate translations:When a man at forty is the object of dislike, he will always continue what he is.
[tr. Legge (1861)]When a man meets with odium at forty, he will do so to the end.
[tr. Jennings (1895)]If a man after forty is an object of dislike to men, he will continue to be so to the end of his days.
[tr. Ku Hung-Ming (1898)]If a man reach forty and yet be disliked by his fellows, he will be so to the end.
[tr. Soothill (1910)]Forty and disliked. He is at the end already; too late to alter.
[tr. Soothill (1910) - alternate 1]At 40 a man's character is settled, and if he still be detested by his fellows, then here his end is reached.
[tr. Soothill (1910) - alternate 2]If a man is hateful at forty he'll be so to the end.
[tr. Pound (1933)]One who has reached the age of forty and is still disliked will be so till the end.
[tr. Waley (1938)]It is all over for the man of forty who is held in aversion.
[tr. Ware (1950), 17.24]If hateful things are seen in one at the age of forty, that is indeed how one will end up.
[tr. Dawson (1993)]Whoever, by the age of forty, is still disliked, will remain so till the end.
[tr. Leys (1997)]If, at forty, a man is still loathed, he is done for.
[tr. Huang (1997), 17.25]If one is still disliked at his forty years of age, one is going to the end.
[tr. Cai/Yu (1998), No. 466]The person who at age forty still evokes the dislike of others is a hopeless case.
[tr. Ames/Rosemont (1998)]If he is forty and is still hated, he will probably be so until the end.
[tr. Brooks/Brooks (1998), 17.24]If you reach forty and find it all hateful, you'll be that way to the death.
[tr. Hinton (1998), 17.25]If, having reached the age of forty, you still find yourself despised by others, you will remain despised until the end of your days.
[tr. Slingerland (2003)]Forty and hated by others -- and he’ll be so the rest of his life.
[tr. Watson (2007)]If a person has reached forty but is still an outcast, he will not have much hope for the rest of his life.
[tr. Li (2020)]
Good manners — the longer I live the more convinced I am of it — are a priceless insurance against failure and loneliness. And anyone can have them.
Elsa Maxwell (1883-1963) American gossip columnist, author, songwriter, professional hostess
Elsa Maxwell’s Etiquette Book (1951)
I never met a man I didn’t like.
Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Motto
(Source)
Rogers' first use of the phrase in writing comes from "Letters of a Self-Made Diplomat to His President," Saturday Evening Post (1926-11-06):I bet you if I had met him and had a chat with him, I would have found him a very interesting and human fellow, for I never yet met a man that I dident like. When you meet people, no matter what opinion you might have formed about them beforehand, why, after you meet them and see their angle and their personality, why, you can see a lot of good in all of them.
(Misspelling of "didn't" in the original.) Rogers was writing of his regrets over not having met Leon Trotsky while visiting the Soviet Union. The article was incorporated into a book Rogers published about the trip, "There's Not a Bathing Suit in Russia & Other Bare Facts, ch. 4 (1927).
Two other early references, the first from his "Weekly Article" column (1930-06-29):You know I have often said in answer to inquiries as to how I got away with kidding some of our public men, that it was because I liked all of them personally, and that if there was no malice in your heart there could be none in your "Gags," and I have always said I never met a man I didn't like.
And from a speech at a Boston church, the same month:I’ve got my epitaph all worked out. When I’m tucked away in the old graveyard west of Oologah [Oklahoma], I hope they will cut this epitaph -- or whatever you call them signs they put over gravestones -- on it, 'Here lies Will Rogers. He joked about every prominent man in his time, but he never met a man he didn’t like.'
That reference was picked up in AP news stories, and Rogers used the phrase for the rest of his life.
More info on Rogers' motto and the above quotations: here, here, and here.
A strange and vanity-devoured, detestable woman! I do not believe I could ever learn to like her except on a raft at sea with no other provisions in sight.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 3, 3 July 1908 (2010)
(Source)
I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Tom Sawyer Abroad, ch. 11 “The Sand-Storm” (1905)
(Source)
He liked to like people, therefore people liked him.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, ch. 16 (1896)
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