Since you mentioned flattery, let me say that I
praise you for hating flatterers; I would not have
it otherwise. But I wish to make a distinction and
a difference for you between the achievement of
one who praises, and its exaggeration on the part of
one who flatters. 
The flatterer, since he praises for a selfish reason
and has little regard for truth, thinks that he must
praise everything to excess, telling falsehoods and
contributing a great deal on his own account, so
that he would not hesitate to declare Thersites had
a better figure than Achilles, and that of all who
took part in the expedition against Troy, Nestor
was the youngest; he would take his oath upon

 

it that the son of Croesus had sharper ears than
Melampus, The son of Croesus was a deaf-mute (Herod. 1, 34 and 85); Melampus the seer could hear worms in the roof talking to each other (Apollodorus 1, 9, 12). and Phineus sharper sight than Lynceus, Phineus was blind; Lynceus could see what was underground (Apoll. 3, 10, 3). if only he hoped to gain something by the lie.
But the other, in praising the self-same object,
instead of telling any lie or adding any quality
that did not belong to it, would take the good
points that it had by nature, even if they were
not very great, and would amplify them and make
them greater. He would venture to say, when he
wished to praise a horse, which is the lightest of
foot and the best runner of all the animals that
we know.
 Over the top of the flowers he ran without
bending them downward. Iliad20, 227, of the horses of Erichthonius, sired by Boreas. 


And again he would not hesitate to speak of

 the
swiftness of wind-footed horses. Source unknown, if δρόμον is part of the quotation. But for “wind-footed horses,” see Hymn to Venus217, Pindar, frag. 221. 


 And if he were
to praise a house that was beautiful and handsomely
furnished, he would say:

 Surely like this, inside, is the palace of Zeus on
Olympus. Odyssey4, 74, said by Telemachus to his friend, admiring
the palace of Menelaus. 

The flatterer, however, would express himself in
that way even about the swineherd’s hut, if only
he hoped to get something from the swineherd!
Take Cynaethus, the toady of Demetrius Poliorcetes;
when he had used up all his means of flattery, he
praised Demetrius, who was troubled with a cough,
because he cleared his throat melodiously!