On Flattery ( "What is flattery," "Impact of flattery," "Flattery examples.","Psychology of Flattery)

By: Dr. Bhavesh Chandra Pandey

Teacher

Bihar

To flatter or not to flatter, that is the question.("What is flattery," "Impact of flattery," "Flattery examples.","Psychology of)

Flattery is a priceless gift of gab, a magical verbal skill and a shrewd linguistic

jugglery. It is the craft of using most pleasant words to often the most unpleasant

person and showering a verbal bonanza on the most undeserving. It is possibly the most profitable investment of words.

Flattery is perhaps one of the oldest verbal arts. It started with the flattery of Gods

and tickled down to that of the kings, and to the bosses of institutions and finally to wives in household. Flattery was thus born in the form of prayers, then it took the form of the paeans of court poets, then to the generous eulogical verbosity of the subordinates in the offices and finally to extravagant appreciation of wives by

husbands.

Flattery is a wonderful lubricant. It can get you something that hard labour, honesty, sincerity and often money cannot get. It is the art of inflating and once you inflate a person, the window of his wisdom is shut and then you can make him do what you like.

Flattery is a great success agent. If you don't know how to flatter or spoon-feed you are very likely to miss many buses of opportunities. One who knows how to flatter, holds the key of the system. One who flatters well, flourishes well. Flattery influences great men sooner than gold. The rule of the system is pretty simple- flatter or suffer; so, all wise people flatter.

Flattery, spoon-feeding, buttering and sycophancy are synonymous terms. The more you butter, the smoother things become. All you need is to have an oily tongue and a good stock of soft and smooth words and an aptitude for using them at the right moment. Sometimes you also need to tame the sense of abhorrence for the person who matters and mould it into a sense of appreciation. Often it is not so easy. But once you tame your conscience, things become easy. After all nothing succeeds like success, and it is not unwise to set aside conscience for success. Sometimes it pains to wear a pleasant face while flattering a person whom you otherwise regard as a monster. However, you need to think that every gain needs some pain. Once you learn how to flatter, you hardly need to learn anything else. Those who flatter really matter.