Quotations about:
    praise


Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.


Our profession is dreadful, writing corrupts the soul. Every author is surrounded by an aura of adulation which he nurses so assiduously that he cannot begin to judge his own worth or see when it starts to decline.

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Letter to Nikolay Strakhov (1876)
    (Source)

Quoted in Henri Troyat, Tolstoy (1967).
 
Added on 26-Jan-22 | Last updated 26-Jan-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Tolstoy, Leo

It is advantageous to an author, that his book should be attacked as well as praised. Fame is a shuttlecock. If it be struck at one end of the room, it will soon fall to the ground. To keep it up, it must be struck at both ends.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (11-19 Nov 1793), in James Boswell, Journey of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785)
    (Source)
 
Added on 29-Dec-21 | Last updated 29-Dec-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Johnson, Samuel

Don’t be a man of “Intentions.” The world gives a man credit only for his deeds and, often, not even for them.

No picture available
Minna Antrim (1861-1950) American epigrammatist, writer
Don’ts for Bachelors and Old Maids (1908)
    (Source)
 
Added on 10-Dec-21 | Last updated 10-Dec-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Antrim, Minna

Nobody wants constructive criticism; it’s all we can do to put up with constructive praise.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1963)
    (Source)
 
Added on 2-Sep-21 | Last updated 10-Mar-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by McLaughlin, Mignon

The way you win as a creative person is to learn to love the work and not the applause.

Bob Dylan (b. 1941) American singer, songwriter
(Misattributed)

Attributed to Dylan, but it actually appears to be from an article by Brian Herzog, "Don't Write for Applause" (28 May 2015), which touched on Dylan.
 
Added on 20-Jul-21 | Last updated 20-Jul-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Dylan, Bob

You are astonished to find yourself the butt of so much calumny, opposition, indifference and ill-will. You will be more so and have more of it; it is the reward of the good and the beautiful: one may calculate the value of a man from the number of his critics and the importance of a work by the evil said of it.

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) French writer, novelist
Letter to Louise Colet (14 Jun 1853) [tr. Hannigan (1896)]
    (Source)

Alternate translation: "You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies, and the importance of a work of art by the harm that is spoken of it." [Source]
 
Added on 10-Jun-21 | Last updated 10-Jun-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Flaubert, Gustave

People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) English novelist and playwright [William Somerset Maugham]
Of Human Bondage, ch. 50 (1915)
    (Source)
 
Added on 11-May-21 | Last updated 11-May-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Maugham, W. Somerset

It is better to be praised by another than by oneself.

[βέλτερον ὑφ’ ἑτέρου ἢ ὑφ’ ἑαυτοῦ ἐπαινέεσθαι.]

Democritus (c. 460 BC - c. 370 BC) Greek philosopher
Frag. 114 (Diels) [tr. Freeman (1948)]
    (Source)

Original Greek. Diels citation "114. (117 N.) DEMOKRATES. 82." Freeman notes this as one of the Gnômae, from a collection called "Maxims of Democratês," but because Stobaeus quotes many of these as "Maxims of Democritus," they are generally attributed to the latter. The same translation is made by @sentantiq (2016).

Alternate translation: "It is better to be praised by others than by oneself." [tr. Barnes (1987)]
 
Added on 4-May-21 | Last updated 4-May-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Democritus

You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist, engineer, scientist
Notebook entry (c. 1500), Leonardo da Vinci’s Note-Books (1906) [tr. MacCurdy]
    (Source)

Codice Atlantico 76 v. a.
 
Added on 2-Mar-21 | Last updated 2-Mar-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Leonardo da Vinci

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him, all creatures here below!
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host!
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Thomas Ken (1637-1711) English cleric, poet, hymnist
Doxology (1695)

This doxology was added at the end of Ken's Morning, Evening, and Midnight Hymns ("Awake, My Soul, and with the Sun," "All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night" (or "Glory to Thee, My God, This Night"), and "Lord, Now My Sleep Does Me Forsake." It is now often sung on its own in some Christian denominations, particularly Anglican.
 
Added on 24-Jul-20 | Last updated 24-Jul-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Ken, Thomas

Long books, when read, are usually overpraised, because the reader wants to convince others and himself that he has not wasted his time.

E. M. Forster (1879-1970) English novelist, essayist, critic, librettist [Edward Morgan Forster]
Commonplace Book (1985) [ed. Gardner]
    (Source)
 
Added on 13-May-20 | Last updated 13-May-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Forster, E. M.

I never saw an author in my life — saving perhaps one — that did not purr as audibly as a full-grown domestic cat on having his fur smoothed the right way by a skillful hand.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. 3 (1858)
    (Source)
 
Added on 11-Mar-20 | Last updated 11-Mar-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Holmes, Sr., Oliver Wendell

His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. It enabled him to run, though not to soar. When he attempted the highest flights, he became ridiculous; but, while he remained in a lower region, he outstripped all competitors.

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) English writer and politician
“John Dryden,” Edinburgh Review (Jan 1828)
    (Source)

Review of John Dryden, The Political Works of John Dryden (1826)
 
Added on 20-Feb-20 | Last updated 20-Feb-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Macaulay, Thomas Babington

We do what we must, and call it by the best names we can, and would fain have the praise of having intended the result which ensues.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Experience,” Essays: Second Series (1844)
    (Source)
 
Added on 2-Feb-19 | Last updated 2-Feb-19
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

You can tell the character of every man when you see how he gives and receives praise.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], Letter 52 “On choosing our teachers,” Sec. 12
    (Source)
 
Added on 17-Oct-17 | Last updated 17-Oct-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Seneca the Younger

Why fight off fame now beating at your door?
What other writers dare to promise more?
You must make immortality start now,
Not make it wait to give your corpse a bow.

[Ante fores stantem dubitas admittere Famam
Teque piget curae praemia ferre tuae?
Post te victurae per te quoque vivere chartae
Incipiant: cineri gloria sera venit.]

Martial (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]
Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 1, epigram 25, ll. 5-8 (1.25) [tr. Wills (2007)]
    (Source)

"To Faustinus." (Source (Latin)). Some early writers number this as ep. 26, as noted. Alternate translations:

Dost doubt t'admit Fame standing at thy gate?
Thy labour's just reward to bear, dost hate?
That which will after, in thy time let live:
Too late men praise unto our ashes give.
[tr. Killigrew (1695)]

Fame at your portal waits; the door why barr'd?
Why loth to take your labour's just reward?
Let works live with you, which will long survive;
For honours after death too late arrive.
[tr. Hay (1755), 1.26]

Admit fair fame, who dances at thy door;
And dain to reap thyself thy toil's reward.
The strains that shall survive thee, give to soar;
Nor to thine ashes leave the late record.
[tr. Elphinston (1782), 2.34]

Do you hesitate to let in Fame when standing for admittance before your threshold, and does it grieve you to reap the rewards of your own diligence? May your poems, which will survive you, begin to live by your means. The glory which is shed upon ashes arrives full late.
[tr. Amos (1858), 1.26 "Posthumous Works"]

Do you hesitate to admit Fame, who is standing before your door; and does it displease you to receive the reward of your labour? Let the writings, destined to live after you, begin to live through your means. Glory comes too late, when paid only to our ashes.
[tr. Bohn's Classical (1859)]

If after thee thy verses are to live,
Let them begin whilst thou'rt alive. Too late
The glory that illumines but they tomb.
[ed. Harbottle (1897)]

Do you hesitate to admit Fame that stands before your doors, and shrink from winning the reward of your care? Let writings that will live after you by your adi also begin to live now; to the ashes of the dead glory comes too late.
[tr. Ker (1919)]

Nay, doth it irk you that reward is nigh?
Why bar out fame who standeth at the gate?
Give birth to what must live, before you die,
For honour paid to ashes comes too late.
[tr. Pott & Wright (1921)]

Fame stands before your threshold, let her in;
Are you ashamed your meed of praise to win?
Your books will long outlive you in their fame;
Come then, begin, for ashes have no name.
[tr. Francis & Tatum (1924), #14]

Tell me why you hesitate;
Fame is standing at your door.
Take the prize she long has offered,
Long has held for you in store!
Let works that will survive you after
You have trod the path so dread
Live now, while you still are living.
Fame comes too late to the dead.
[tr. Marcellino (1968)]

Fame is at the door,
and you keep her waiting.
You can't bring yourself to accept
the reward of your worry?
Hurry!
Let those pages begin to live -- show your face.
They will live on after you're gone in any case.
[tr. Bovie (1970)]

Do you hesitate to let Fame in when she stands at your door? Are you reluctant to take the reward for your pains? Your pages will live after you; let them also begin to live through you. Glory comes late to the grave.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1993)]

Amos (above) provides a number of examples where the last line has inspired other writers. Byron wrote, in the same vein, in "Martial, Lib. I, Epig. I" (c. 1821):

He unto whom thou art so partial,
O reader! is the well-known Martial,
The Epigrammatist: while living
Give him the fame thou wouldst be giving;
So shall he hear, and feel, and know it --
Post-obits rarely reach a poet.

 
Added on 23-Aug-17 | Last updated 3-Mar-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Martial

Do not fancy, as too many do, that thou canst praise God by singing hymns to Him in church once a week, and disobeying Him all the week long. … Dost thou fancy as the heathen do, that God needs to be flattered with fine words? or that thou wilt be heard for thy much speaking, and thy vain repetitions? He asks of thee works as well as words; and more, He asks of thee works first and words after.

Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) English clergyman, historian, essayist, novelist (pseud. "Parson Lot")
The Good News of God, Sermon 4 “The Song of the Three Children (Daniel 3:16-18)” (1881)
    (Source)
 
Added on 20-Jun-17 | Last updated 20-Jun-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Kingsley, Charles

A man should fear when he enjoys only what good he does publicly. Is it not the publicity, rather than the charity, that he loves?

Beecher - what good he does publicly - wist_info quote

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American clergyman and orator
In Henry Ward Beecher and Edna Dean Proctor, Life Thoughts: Gathered From the Extemporaneous Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher (1858)

See Matthew.
 
Added on 8-Jul-16 | Last updated 8-Jul-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Beecher, Henry Ward

I live my life in celebration and in praise of the life I’m living. What you focus on expands. The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate. The more you complain, the more you find fault, the more misery and fault you will have to find.

Oprah Winfrey (b. 1954) American TV personality, actress
“Words of the Week,” Jet (27 Oct 1986)
    (Source)
 
Added on 13-May-16 | Last updated 13-May-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Winfrey, Oprah

Whither should I fly?
I have done no harm. But I remember now
I am in this earthly world; where to do harm
Is often laudable, to do good sometime
Accounted dangerous folly.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 4, sc. 2, l. 81ff [Lady Macbeth] (1606)
    (Source)
 
Added on 22-Mar-16 | Last updated 29-Jun-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Shakespeare, William

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)
Speech, Guildhall, London (12 Jun 1945)
 
Added on 23-Feb-16 | Last updated 23-Feb-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Eisenhower, Dwight David

Make the least ado about your greatest gifts. Be content to act, and leave the talking to others.

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 295 (1647)

Alt. trans.: "The greater your exploits the less you need affect them: content yourself with doing, leave the talking to others." [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
 
Added on 2-Dec-15 | Last updated 4-Apr-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Gracián, Baltasar

The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident.

Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Welsh-English essayist
“Table Talk, by the Late Elia,” London Athenaeum (4 Jan 1834)
    (Source)
 
Added on 13-Jul-15 | Last updated 13-Jul-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Lamb, Charles

Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #136 (6 Jul 1751)
    (Source)
 
Added on 24-Jun-15 | Last updated 26-Jun-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Johnson, Samuel

There are reproaches that compliment, and compliments that disparage.

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Maxims], #148 (1665) [tr. Kronenberger (1959)]
 
Added on 17-Jun-15 | Last updated 17-Jun-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by La Rochefoucauld, Francois

Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
“Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot” (1734)
    (Source)
 
Added on 10-Jun-15 | Last updated 10-Jun-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Pope, Alexander

Let us believe neither half of the good people tell us of ourselves, nor half the evil they say of others.

Jean-Antoine Petit-Senn (1792-1870) French-Swiss poet
(Attributed)
    (Source)
 
Added on 5-Jun-15 | Last updated 6-Jun-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Petit-Senn, Jean-Antoine

Neither praise, nor dispraise thyself; thy Actions will do it enough.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English writer, physician
Introductio ad Prudentiam, # 338 (1725)
    (Source)
 
Added on 27-May-15 | Last updated 26-Jan-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Fuller, Thomas (1654)

Watch how a man takes praise, and there you have the measure of him.

Thomas Burke (1886-1945) British author
In T.P.’s Weekly (8 Jun 1928)
 
Added on 13-May-15 | Last updated 13-May-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Burke, Thomas

Accepting praize that iz not our due iz not mutch better than tew be a receiver of stolen goods.

[Accepting praise that is not our due is not much better than to be a receiver of stolen goods.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, “Stray Children” (1874)
 
Added on 29-Apr-15 | Last updated 29-Apr-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Billings, Josh

When friends and acquaintances are telling you you are a genius, before you accept their opinion, take a moment to remember what you always thought of their opinions in the past.

Carl Icahn (b. 1936) American businessman and investor
In “The Best Financial Advice I Ever Got (or Gave),” Wall Street Journal (6 Jan 2014)
    (Source)
 
Added on 20-Apr-15 | Last updated 20-Apr-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Icahn, Carl

You’re the top!
You’re the Colosseum.
You’re the top!
You’re the Louvre Museum.
You’re a melody from a symphony by Strauss,
You’re a Bendel bonnet, a Shakespeare sonnet,
You’re Mickey Mouse.

You’re the Nile,
You’re the Tow’r of Pisa,
You’re the smile
On the Mona Lisa.
I’m a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop,
But if, baby, I’m the bottom
You’re the top!

Cole Porter (1891-1964) American composer and songwriter
“You’re the Top” (1934)
 
Added on 1-Dec-14 | Last updated 30-Apr-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Porter, Cole

We are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don’t care for.

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) Austrian writer
Aphorisms (1905)
 
Added on 24-Nov-14 | Last updated 24-Nov-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie von

Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood or appreciated.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1840-05-06)
 
Added on 13-Oct-14 | Last updated 27-Mar-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

For I know not why we should delay our tokens of respect to those who deserve them, until the heart that our sympathy could have gladdened has ceased to beat. As men cannot read the epitaphs inscribed upon the marble that covers them, so the tombs that we erect to virtue often only prove our repentance that we neglected it when with us.

Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) English novelist and politician
Letter to F. T. Mappin (25 Sep 1855)
    (Source)

Quoted in The Illustrated London News, Vol. 27 (6 Oct 1855)
 
Added on 6-Oct-14 | Last updated 6-Oct-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Bulwer-Lytton, Edward George

Carve not upon a stone when I am dead,
The praises which remorseful mourners give
To women’s graves — a tardy recompense,
But speak them while I live.

Elizabeth Chase Akers Allen (1832-1911) American author, journalist, poet
“Until Death”

Published anonymously in William Cullen Bryant (ed.), A New Library of Poetry and Song (1876)
 
Added on 15-Sep-14 | Last updated 15-Sep-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: ,
More quotes by Allen, Elizabeth Chase

We protest against unjust criticism, but we accept unearned applause.

José Narosky (b. 1930) Argentine aphorist and writer
Si Todos Los Sueños (1993)
 
Added on 1-Sep-14 | Last updated 1-Sep-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Narosky, Jose

He that applauds him who does not deserve praise, is endeavoring to deceive the public; he that hisses in malice or sport, is an oppressor and a robber.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler, #25 (7 Oct 1758)
    (Source)
 
Added on 25-Aug-14 | Last updated 25-Jun-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Johnson, Samuel

When the million applaud you, seriously ask yourself what harm you have done; when they censure you, what good!

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer
Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words, #183 (1821 ed.)
 
Added on 4-Aug-14 | Last updated 27-Feb-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Colton, Charles Caleb

Never fish for praise; it is not worth the bait.

James Burgh (1714-1775) British politician and writer
The Dignity of Human Nature, Sec. 5 “Miscellaneous Thoughts on Prudence in Conversation” (1754)
    (Source)
 
Added on 17-Jul-14 | Last updated 17-Jul-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by Burgh, James

Praise your friends, and let your friends praise you.

James Burgh (1714-1775) British politician and writer
The Dignity of Human Nature, Sec. 5 “Miscellaneous Thoughts on Prudence in Conversation” (1754)
    (Source)
 
Added on 19-Jun-14 | Last updated 19-Jun-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Burgh, James

The Americans, in their intercourse with strangers, appear impatient of the smallest censure and insatiable of praise.

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer, diplomat, politician
Democracy in America, Vol. 2, sec. 3, ch. 16 (1840)
 
Added on 18-Jun-14 | Last updated 18-Jun-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Tocqueville, Alexis de

Do not be hasty to praise or blame; speak always as though you were giving testimony before the judgment seat of the gods.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Essays, “De moribus,” 76
 
Added on 26-May-14 | Last updated 26-May-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Seneca the Younger

A fair & honest narrative of the bad is a voucher for the truth of the good.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to Matthew Carey (19 Jun 1813)
    (Source)

In the original, spelled "Mathew Carey"; in some sources, misidentified as "Matthew Carr."
 
Added on 19-Jul-12 | Last updated 14-Jul-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Jefferson, Thomas

Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise.

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #225 (17 May 1750)
    (Source)
 
Added on 8-Dec-11 | Last updated 18-Oct-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Chesterfield (Lord)

Many folk like to know beforehand what is to be set on the table; but those who have laboured to prepare the feast like to keep their secret; for wonder makes the words of praise louder.

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 3: The Return of the King, Book 6, ch. 4 “The Steward and the King” [Gandalf] (1955)
    (Source)
 
Added on 6-Sep-11 | Last updated 22-Dec-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by Tolkien, J.R.R.

“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

The Bible (14th C BC - 2nd C AD) Christian sacred scripture
Matthew 6:1-6 (NIV)
    (Source)

KJV:  "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. "Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
 
Added on 11-Mar-10 | Last updated 8-Jul-16
Link to this post | 1 comment
Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Bible

Excellence is lost sight of in the hunger for sudden performance and praise.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Success,” Society and Solitude (1870)
 
Added on 15-Feb-10 | Last updated 19-Feb-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

I praise loudly, I blame softly.

Catherine II (1762-1796) Russian empress [Catherine the Great; b. Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst]
Letter (23 Aug. 1794)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 12-Jan-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Catherine II (the Great)

Blame-all and Praise-all are two blockheads.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Feb. 1734)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 9-Feb-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Franklin, Benjamin

My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others, and that’s nice too, but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about the success.

Helen Hayes (1900-1993) American actress
Reader’s Digest (1958)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 16-Jun-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Hayes, Helen

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer
Lacon, vol. 1, #422 (1820)
    (Source)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 12-Nov-19
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Colton, Charles Caleb