Mankind naturally and generally love to be flatter'd : Whatever sooths our Pride , and tends to exalt our Species above the rest of the Creation, we are pleas'd with and easily believe , when ungrateful Truths shall be with the utmost Indignation rejected. "What! bring ourselves down to an Equality with the Beasts of the Field! with the meanest part of the Creation ! 'Tis insufferable!" But, (to use a Piece of common Sense) our Geese are but Geese tho' we may think 'em Swans; and Truth will be Truth tho' it sometimes prove mortifying and distasteful.

Author: Benjamin Franklin
Year: 1725
Year evidence: "A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain" (1725)
Source: Quotes / 1720s — "A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain" (1725)
Source links: https://thefederalistpapers.org/founders/franklin/benjamin-franklin-mankind-naturally-and-generally-love-to-be-flatterdm
Wikiquote: https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Benjamin+Franklin&oldid=3979252
Attribution: Wikiquote contributors, Benjamin Franklin; history: https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Benjamin%20Franklin&action=history
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