Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

The best compliment to a child or a friend is the feeling you give him that he has been set free to make his own inquiries, to come to conclusions that are right for him, whether or not they coincide with your own.

Nothing makes people so worthy of compliments as receiving them. One is more delightful for being told one is delightful -- just as one is more angry for being told one is angry.

Usually we praise only to be praised.

After [my father had] seen me in five or six things, he said, "Son, your mother and I really enjoyed your recent film, and I must say that you're a lot like John Wayne." And I said, "How so?" And he said, "Well, you're exactly the same in all your roles." Now, as a modern American actor, that's not what you want to hear. But for a guy who watched John Wayne movies and grew up in Iowa, it's a sterling compliment.

There's nothing worse than someone coming up to me and going "Oh God, I really love your hair."

I really lack the words to compliment myself today.

If you can't get a compliment any other way, pay yourself one.