Quotes & Sayings About Sycophants

Journalists were never intended to be the cheerleaders of a society, the conductors of applause, the sycophants. Tragically, that is their assigned role in authoritarian societies, but not here - not yet. — Chet Huntley

Yoko had 10 years and I had 10 years and I would rather have had the 10 years I had than the ones she did. I had the raw talent and the raw human being, before the sycophants arrived. — Cynthia Lennon

It was the scientist in me, you see. It was the desire to see all the everything beyond the Golden City. To escape the sycophants, the provincial. The hunger to know. It is my greatest weapon. But the mask conceals this. And a lie meant for my people ensnares everyone. Even my enemies. They think they have me-- a king reduced to chains. But I know a secret that I cannot yet tell. First I must put villainous means to proper ends... and let them feed my hunger to know. — Ta-Nehisi Coates

In religion, it is not the sycophants or those who cling most faithfully to the status quo who are ultimately praised. It is the insurgents. — Rollo May

politicians are like movie stars. They surround themselves with sycophants and yes-men and people to whisper nice shit into their ears - and a lot of them start believing it, because they want to believe it. — Anonymous

When you favour a woman, she will want to return the favour in so many means, but its better to rupidiate such offerings. — Michael Bassey Johnson

Will Trump, who has scant impulse control and who's willing to say the most insulting, provocative things that people wouldn't say at a dinner party much less a global forum, get into a tweet battle with a madman and start a world war? Will Hillary ever seem on the level? Or will she always be surrounded by a cordon of creepy henchmen and Clinton Inc. sycophants, shrouded in a miasma of money grabs and conveniently disappearing records and emails? Both — Maureen Dowd

Annwyl didn't know or care. She hated the gods, pretty much all of them. But more than gods, she hated humans who did horrible things while proclaiming themselves holy and righteous because of their gods.
Yet of all the holy sycophants she'd had to deal with the last few years, Annwyl loathed most of all Priestess Abertha, the sister of Duke Salebiri and the biggest hypocrite Annwyl had ever had the displeasure of meeting
... Annwyl liked to call her, Priestess Fucking Abertha — G.A. Aiken

Some, I verily believe, delight to be slave-men; it is a joy to them, and they would not change their condition; not only miserable village wretches, but men in good position, well-to-do sycophants. — Richard Jefferies

Are you a politician?
I hate politicians, he said. And, in any case, there's no such thing anymore: only sycophants and dissidents. — Daniel Alarcon

Whenever you commend, add a compelling reason for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and the admiration of fools. — Richard Steele

History is replete with blunders written by sycophants. — Tomichan Matheikal

Whenever you commend, add your reasons for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and admiration of fools. — Richard Steele

She said some people were horizontally oriented, while others were vertical. Horizontally oriented people were concerned exclusively with what others think, with fitting in or impressing their peers. Vertically oriented people were obsessed only with some higher "truth," which they believed in wholeheartedly and wanted to trumpet no matter who was interested. People who are horizontally oriented are phonies and sycophants, while those who are entirely vertically oriented lack all social skill - they're the ones on the street shouting about the apocalypse. Normal people are in the middle, but veer one way or the other. — Adelle Waldman

The journalists are so devoted to Obama. They are such sycophants that they're worried about access. — Rush Limbaugh

Should a writer have a social purpose? Any honest writer is bound to become a critic of the society he lives in, and sometimes, like Mark Twain or Kurt Vonnegut or Leo Tolstoy or Francois Rabelais, a very harsh critic indeed. The others are sycophants, courtiers, servitors, entertainers. Shakespeare was a sychophant; however, he was and is also a very good poet, and so we continue to read him. — Edward Abbey

I don't like sycophants. Unless you're a cat. — Primadonna Angela

All the parties of capitalist society, all its moralists and all its sycophants will perish beneath the debris of the impending catastrophe. The only party that will survive is the party of the world socialist revolution ... — Leon Trotsky

The impulse to perfection cannot exist where the definition of perfection is the arbitrary decision of authority. That which is born in loneliness and from the heart cannot be defended against the judgment of a committee of sycophants. — Raymond Chandler

The trouble with competitors' sycophants is they don't know where to put their tongues. Here's a suggestion: Try behind your teeth. With your mouth shut. — Max Hawthorne

It is the liveliest time in life, the happiest of the irresponsible times in life. Mothers echo its happiness - nothing is like a mother who has a son home from college, except another mother with a son home from college. Bloom does actually come upon these mothers; it is a visible thing; and they run like girls, walk like athletes, laugh like sycophants. Yet they give up their sons to the daughters of other mothers, and find it proud rapture enough to be allowed to sit and watch. — Booth Tarkington

The world was full of waistrels and waifs, sycophants and spies - all of whom put words to the wrong use, who made everything that was said or written suspect — David Levithan

Everyone wanted to see [him] fall so they could devour his remains. As is usually the case, the army of sycophants had turned into a horde of hungry hyenas — Carlos Ruiz Zafon

For a time, the press lord William Randolph Hearst did everything in his vast powers to keep the film "Citizen Kane" from finding an audience. He intimidated theater owners, refused to let ads run in his newspapers, and even pressured studio sycophants to destroy the negative. At first, the titan of San Simeon had his way: the film faded from view after a splashy initial release. But over the years, "Citizen Kane" came to be recognized for the masterpiece it is, and now regularly tops lists as the greatest film ever made. — Anonymous

The king appeared ... with his dogs and sycophants behind him. — Kathleen Winsor

Almighty Father! let thy lowly child,
Strong in his love of truth, be wisely bold,
A patriot bard, by sycophants reviled.
Let him live usefully, and not die old! — Ebenezer Elliott

Moreover, I have heard that those who are fond of praising men to their faces are also fond of damning them behind their backs. — Zhuangzi

Bullies like him were only strong while assured of victory; when faced with anyone more powerful, they turned into fawning sycophants, desperate to prove themselves. — Jordan L. Hawk

It's just a party. You eat some food and drink a beer and pretend you don't want to be crawdad fishing," Angie said.
"No, it's an echo chamber of sycophants and I can't listen to some bimbo recite her newest purchases while pretending I don't want to throw myself from the roof. — Mary Jane Hathaway

It is possible to be below flattery as well as above it. One who trusts nobody will not trust sycophants. One who does not value real glory will not value its counterfeit. — Thomas B. Macaulay

It really isn't anybody's business how many people we have working for us. What's offensive is that I'm portrayed as this prima donna with these sycophants telling me how great I am all the time. Yes, they do work for me, but we're working together for a higher good ... — Demi Moore

It might seem that being a genius is a golden ticket to a life of glamorous soirees with the intellectual elite, champagne flute in hand, arm candy at your side, surrounded by a throng of smiling sycophants. But you might be confusing this scene with the lifestyle of a diplomat — Andre De Guillaume