Admiration ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Admiration is the emotion furthest from comprehension.

Admiration, n. Our polite recognition of another’s resemblance to ourselves. - Ambrose Bierce, The Cynic's Word Book (1906)

How vain painting is, exciting admiration by its resemblance to things of which we do not admire the originals.
- Blaise Pascal, Pensées no. 74 (1658)


Some people are moulded by their admirations, others by their hostilities.
- Elizabeth Bowen, The Death of the Heart (1938), pt. 2, ch. 2

Admiration is the daughter of ignorance.
- Benjamin Franklin, in Poor Richard's Almanack (1733-58)

A fool can always find a greater fool to admire him.
- Nicolas Boileau, L'Art poétique (1674) canto I, 1. 232, as cited in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations by Elizabeth M. Knowles, Oxford University Press (1999), p. 124

The quality of wit inspire more admiration than confidence.
- George Santayana, The Sense of Beauty, 1986

Self-admiration is the death of the soul. To admire ourselves as we are is to have no wish to change. And with those who don't want to change, the soul is dead.
- William Barclay, Day by Day with William Barclay: Selected Readings for Daily Reflection (ed. Denis Duncan), Hendrickson Pub, 2003

We must not be guided in our decisions by admiration for great men.
- Asher b. Yehiel, c. 1300. q Weiss, Dor, v. 63., taken from A Treasury of Jewish Quotations (ed. Joseph L. Baron), Jason Aronson, Incorporated, 1996, p. 21

La admiracion es bien recibida aunque venga de los tontos.

• Admiration is always welcome even when it comes from stupid people.

- Palacio Valdés, José: Novela (ed. Guy Everett Snavely, Robert Calvin Ward), as translated by Anthony Lejeune from The Concise Dictionary of Foreign Quotations, Stacey International, 1998, p. 265

Let none admire
That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best
Deserve the precious bane.
- John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1, 690–2 (1667)


The more I see of men, the more I admire dogs. (Plus je vois les hommes, plus j'admire les chiens.)
- Jeanne-Marie Roland, also attributed to Ouida and to Mme de Sévigné


You always admire what you really don't understand.
- Eleanor Roosevelt, Meet the Press, 16 September 1956.