Choose a topic from Part 2B:
1. Friendliness or affability is a virtue which strives tomake things pleasant. But there are situations in which the effortof friendliness must fail of its object: that is, particular casesin which people cannot or will not be friendly. In such situations,flattery is likely to show itself. Flattery is a sort of lying, andhas the evil of lying. It is the effort to please people bypraising them for good qualities they do not possess, or approvingtheir bad qualities which should be condemned. Flattery usually hasthe ulterior view of getting something from those who are subjectedto it.
2. Unless flattery is praise of a person's sin or ismeant to draw him into sin, it is usually a venial, not a mortalsin.
"Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise.
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Thomas á Kempis
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"What good does it do to speak learnedly about the Trinity if, lacking humility, you displease the Trinity? Indeed it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. "
Thomas á Kempis
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"Let no one wear a mask, otherwise he will do ill; and if he has one, let him burn it."
St Philip Neri
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