We often get annoyed by flattery even as someone is buttering us up. But think about this: How many times have you been unfairly suspected of something? How often has bad luck made your good intentions look suspicious? How many people have you started out hating but ended up loving? If you remember these things, you won't get angry so quickly. Especially if you quietly tell yourself when someone offends you: "I've done this exact same thing myself."
We are often offended by flattery even while it is being lavished upon us: yet whoever recalls to his mind how often he himself has been the victim of undeserved suspicion, how often fortune has given his true service an appearance of wrong-doing, how many persons he has begun by hating and ended by loving, will be able to keep himself from becoming angry straightway, especially if he silently says to himself when each offence is committed: "I have done this very thing myself."