It is singular how impatient men are with overpraise of others, how patient of overpraise of themselves; and yet the one does them no injury, while the other may be their ruin.

Praise given to someone else costs you nothing, and it is the one most people cannot stand. Praise given to you beyond what you earned feels wonderful, and it is the one that quietly does damage, because it tells you to stop working. The irritation and the pleasure are both pointing the wrong way.

When you next feel the sting of watching someone overrated, let it pass rather than adjusting the record. When you are the one being overrated, name the part that is not true, at least to yourself. Flattery accepted without noticing becomes the standard you then fail to meet.