Diogenes Laertius,
Lives of the Philosophers 6.5 (
Life of Antisthenes, tr. R.D. Hicks):
Once, when he was applauded by rascals, he remarked, "I am horribly afraid I have done something wrong."
ἐπαινούμενός ποτε ὑπὸ πονηρῶν, ἔφη, "ἀγωνιῶ μή τι κακὸν εἴργασμαι."
Id. 6.8:
"Many men praise you," said one. "Why, what wrong have I done?" was his rejoinder.
πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα "πολλοί σε ἐπαινοῦσι," "τί γάρ," ἔφη, "κακὸν πεποίηκα;"
Charlotte Brontë,
Shirley (chapter 30):
On abuse, on reproach, on calumny, it is easy to smile; but painful indeed is the panegyric of those we contemn.
C.S. Lewis,
Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1967), p. 44:
Fatuous praise from a manifest fool may hurt more than any depreciation.