Here character, diction and motive come together, and all the preciousness and self-flattery drop away. |
It demands nothing of its audience and offers only a self-flattery that goes by the name of self-esteem. |
The self-flagellation about our failure to act against evil is at the same time a form of self-flattery. |
I like being compared to all good musicians but I dare say that is just because of self-flattery. |
Through a combination of cynicism and self-flattery, we put their accomplishments on a par with the banalities of contemporary celebrity culture. |
I do not say this as a gesture of misplaced self-flattery, since what I plan to do here is very modest indeed. |