quotations about bragging
Every other enjoyment malice may destroy; every other panegyric envy may withhold; but no human power can deprive the boaster of his own encomiums.
SAMUEL JOHNSON
The Rambler, Jan. 21, 1752
Bragging is but so much breath lost in good company, and ought to be no more taken notice of than the barking of a little cur in the streets, so long as a man's heels are safe, and the dog does not bite.
ANONYMOUS
The European Magazine and London Review, vol. 79
Mankind in general seem to take about as much pride in bragging of their faults as of their virtues.
H. W. SHAW
attributed, Day's Collacon
The biggest challenge after success is shutting up about it.
CRISS JAMI
Killosophy
I, a Laconian dog, can bite again:
Yes, I can make the Daunian tiger flee,
Much more a bragging, foul-mouth'd whelp like thee.
HENRY KIRKE WHITE
The Remains of Henry Kirke White
If the world you wish to know,
Never by its speeches go.
EDWARD JOHN TURNOUR
"The World,", Thoughts in Youth and Age
For a while they managed remarkably well; only their habit of bragging was prodigious.
EDGAR ALLAN POE
Some Words with a Mummy
What cure for this, you malt-worm? oh, my soul, How it does blush to know thee! bragging puppy!
JAMES SHIRLEY
The Ball
Boasts are wind and deeds are hard.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Foundation and Empire
Never brag, never bluster, never blush.
ROBERT BROWNING
Dramatis Personae
For all braggarts are anxious to gain our envy. We have something to give which is of consequence to them, so, though they employ a patronising voice, it is really we who are the patrons, for it is we who are solicited. Therefore the most swollen-headed of actors is really the humblest, for he is striving to impress all those around him: their indifference maddens him; slighting words rouse him to frenzy. He is completely at their mercy--their sport, their servile slave.
A. CONSTANCE SMEDLEY
"The Humility of Self-Assertion", The Idler
The truth is that these braggarts are ignoramuses and impostors. They speak with a self-satisfaction they do not possess within themselves, in order to impose their point of view, and if they do possess it, it is owing to their very ignorance.
FRAY SERVANDO
The Memoirs of Fray Servando Teresa de Mier
Tell me what you brag about and I'll tell you what you lack.
SPANISH PROVERB
Bravado may stir the crowd, but courage needs no audience.
T. F. HODGE
From Within I Rise
O fool, thou fool, thou poor bragging fool!
HEINRICH HEINE
"The Song of the Oceanides"
With a braggart, it's no sooner done than said.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
There is one thing about hens that looks like wisdom--they don't cackle much until they have laid their eggs.
ANONYMOUS
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Apr. 22, 1876
Often, unaware, our writers paint
Themselves in every hero. Desperate taint!
Braggart authors make wild bragging plays,
Both kings and beggars sounding their own praise.
NICOLAS BOILEAU
The Art of Poetry
You will never hear a good word said about a bragger, unless you hear him talk about himself.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
If I seem to boast more than is becoming, my excuse is that I brag for humanity rather than for myself.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Walden