I can spot empty flattery and know exactly where I stand. In the end it's really only my own approval or disapproval that means anything.
“Over the years your bodies become walking autobiographies, telling friends and strangers alike of the minor and major stresses of your lives.”
“Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological arguments, but out of love. If I do not love a person I am not moved to help him by proofs that he is in need; if I do love him, I wait for no proof of a special need to urge me to help him.”