We ask advice, but we mean approbation. [ Colton ]

Prefer not the esteem of men to the approbation of God. [ Jortin ]

It is folly to seek the approbation of any being besides the Supreme. [ Addison ]

Thought is always troublesome to him who lives without his own approbation. [ Johnson ]

We may wager that any idea of the public, or any general opinion, is a folly, since it has received the approbation of a majority of the people. [ Chamfort ]

Some things will not bear much zeal; and the more earnest we are about them, the less we recommend ourselves to the approbation of sober and considerate men. [ Tillotson ]

For it comes to pass oft that a terrible oath, with a swaggering accent sharply twanged off, gives manhood more approbation than ever proof itself would have earned him. [ William Shakespeare ]

Whenever you commend, add your reasons for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and admiration of fools. [ Steele ]

Who confers reputation? who gives respect and veneration to persons, to books, to great men? Who but Opinion? How utterly insufficient are all the riches of the world without her approbation! [ Pascal ]

Praise or Applause? We express our approbation by praise and applause. Praise is the general, applause, the specific term. Applause springs from impulse, while praise is the result of reason and reflection. [ Pure English, Hackett And Girvin, 1884 ]

Education does not commence with the alphabet; it begins with a mother's look, with a father's nod of approbation, or a sign of reproof; with a sister's gentle pressure of the hand, or a brother's noble act of forbearance. [ G. A. Sala ]

The desire of excellence is the necessary attribute of those who excel. We work little for a thing unless we wish for it. But we cannot of ourselves estimate the degree of our success in what we strive for; that task is left to others. With the desire for excellence comes, therefore, the desire for approbation. And this distinguishes intellectual excellence from moral excellence; for the latter has no necessity of human tribunal; it is more inclined to shrink from the public than to invite the public to be its judge. [ Bulwer-Lytton ]