Appealing to my vanity will not advance your cause. Although this idea is very old, the expression dates only from the mid-twentieth century and originated in the United States. Aristophanes (ca. 388 b.c.), Cato (ca. 175 b.c.), and Cicero (ca. 45 b.c.) are but three of the ancients who warned against flattery. The current cliché appears in Ellery Queen’s A Fine and Private Place (1971; cited by Partridge), “‘Flattery will get you nowhere, Queen,’ the murderer said.” It is sometimes used ironically, in response to an insulting remark, and there is also a humorous variation, flattery will get you everywhere (a retort to a compliment).