What is the greatest compliment you've ever received?

The best compliments I have ever received are when somebody says I’m a good singer. Singing is the only thing I think I’m good at and is the only thing I have any confidence in, so when I’m told I’m good, I like the little ego boost that accompanies it. Rarely do I believe what the person is saying when they give me a compliment but I believe things said about my vocal abilities :)

“You’re a good dad, you fought hard for custody of your kids.”

One of the best compliments I ever received as a writer was from author Tom Wolfe. I asked him to critique a short piece I had written and he gave me a typed and signed note saying how much he liked it, suggesting that I change only one word to better communicate my meaning. I still have that note many years later.

When my kids tell me i’m the best dad in the world, I know this to be true anyway, but their endorsement puts the cherry on top of the icing.

“You’re a geniunely nice person aren’t you?” – said with a smile. Really touched me.

@KNOWITALL Most important of all. Great.
@ucme And you didn’t have to give them something ot take you somewhere? Just kidding. You’re lucky indeed.
@Pachyderm_In_The_Room I can feel your quiet pride. Wow.
@zenvelo Ah, the sense of a fight well fought.
@MadeiraBoo As a singer, I know how you feel. Keep up the good work..

A really, really influential historian wrote in a recommendation letter that I was a brilliant student. But we’ve never met, so I suspect it was largely fluff because he knows my adviser. Still, he had read my project proposal, so he wouldn’t have written that if he thought I was completely stupid…

I’ve received numerous compliments in the past few years, from my adviser, other professors, and peers, about my academic writing. Writing has always come easily to me, but to be recognized for it by people who intimidate me is a very nice feeling. Also, one French guy (not the one I dallied with!) told me that my written French is better than that of many native speakers. That was pretty cool.

But the compliment that means the most to me is when people have told me I am kind or have a big heart.

“You’re a true gentleman.”

I met a woman at a bar and we had a long night of talking. We went back to her place but I didn’t try to force anything on her, so we cuddled and talked all night.

We had a short casual relationship before I had to move, but she was surprised at how respectful and normal I was.

Oh yeah.

Got an email from our daughter a few days ago:

“Have I ever told you that you guys are really cool, and I’m proud to have you as my parents?...well, except for your bedtime. That’s less cool :P”

Cool? Me? Really?

^^^So, what time do you guys go to bed?

@Sunny2 As are they.

A perfectly reasonable time…10ish.

Being well-rested is actually the key to our coolness

@thorninmud : That’s my favorite time to go to bed. I’m really an early bird, but I barely ever get enough work done to be able to go to bed that early!

@bookish1 Dude, history can wait. It ain’t goin anywhere.

All of the teachers our children have had have told me and my husband what a great job we have done as parents. If a teacher gets a Blondechild in their class, they know they are going to have a good student.

@thorninmud: Good insight. I’ll tell that to my adviser the next time he sends me an email gently reminding me to get off my ass and do everything :-p

@ucme I bet you are an awesome dad, you’re hilarious!!

@jonsblond What a nice feeling.
@thorninmud Cool? What higher praise could there be?
@Blackberry We won’t tell on you.
@bookish1 I agree with your order of importance, but enjoy the other compliments too. They count.

@KNOWITALL That would be a winning bet, matching your smile :-)

The nicest ones have been from my kids about the fact that they think I’m a great mom and admire me as a person. Those mean the world to me, of course, but there is one that just happened very recently and is extraordinary because of the circumstances involved.

This very special compliment involves a client who is considered legendary in the music industry and who is terminally ill. I came with my boss who is also his close friend to his home to notarize his estate planning documents. I had been there once before and he’d been extremely kind to me and had someone in his household give me the tour of his home, which includes a recording studio where many famous albums were recorded and lots of memorabilia is on display. He also signed a DVD of a documentary made about him for me.

This time my boss had gone over ahead of me with the two witnesses (both relatively famous musicians). When I arrived, as I walked in the room the client began to serenade me and the two witnesses spontaneously joined on the harmony. The song is well known and (I can’t name it because it would give my client’s identity away) it describes a beautiful woman with physical characteristics I have. I stopped dead in my tracks because it was beautiful and so sweet. Even now, his voice is incredible and it was such a moment. When we finished and I was leaving, he serenaded me back out of the room the same way. This man is old and so very sick, but it was a great compliment to me (and to his legendary and undiminished charm) that he felt inspired to sing to me that way. He sang it again recently at an all star tribute to him put on by the music industry, but that day, he sang it to me and I’ll never ever forget it.

when he passes, which I wish would be a long time from now, but am afraid won’t, I might consider sharing the song. It’s not that I don’t want to tell, because I do. However, while our representation of him is not a secret whatsoever nor is his medical condition, my firm is so small that my privacy would be at risk if I said who he is. It would reveal exactly where and who I work for.

@diavolobella Never underestimate or take for granted a good mom. That’s a lot of meaning in those two little words.

Interesting story, I’m in the music bus too, radio station group.

I took a class on Proust from a prominent French feminist philosopher and psychoanalyst, Julia Kristeva, and she gave me some high praise on my term paper. I was, and still am, kind of overwhelmed and disbelieving because it was possibly the most disjointed work I’ve ever done, but from her remarks, she really did get what I was going for and liked it quite a bit.

The other great compliment I’ve received was from my first clarinet teacher. He was extremely talented – could finish Flight of the Bumblebee in under 60 seconds, but that was the least of his powers. I have never heard another musician play as passionately as him. He told me I had the best sound in his clarinet school, and that with more discipline I would be the top student. That never happened because we moved and then he passed away shortly after. I kept up with the instrument for years, but it was never the same without him.

Thanks for asking this question. I should be more confident in my writing abilities, and start making music again.

My middle daughter said, after watching some young people behaving badly while we were out, “I am so glad you were such a good parent and didn’t let us behave that way”. We do the best we can as parents, and I know I have made my share of mistakes, but hearing that from my child who is now in her 20s was just lovely. That ‘she’ thinks I did a good job is what really matters.

I also attended a writer’s retreat and the professor (a very highly regarded researcher and writer) who was leading it gave me feedback on work I had submitted for review and congratulated me on the quality of both my research and my writing. I was relieved and felt very honoured that he liked my work.

When my doctor tells me I’ve been really strong. Some days I think I am strong, other days I think I’m pathetic.

Well it certainly wasn’t the one someone gave me once when I was wearing a hat, “You might as well be wearing a gumboot on your head”, it was a long time before I wore a hat again

Dean Koontz (a fabulous suspense author) personally responded to a letter I sent him just to tell me I have an awesome sense of humor and I made him smile. As he is my all-time favorite author and has an amazing sense of humor himself, that compliment is one of my favorites.

“I’d follow you anywhere”

I was astounded when my current landlord called my employment and my past landlords and references.

He said they all just gave me the most glowing review he had ever heard. I expected that from my references but it was so unexpected to get a comment like that.

First time I really recognized that people do generally liked me.

@rosehips What a reassuring thing to learn. Good for you!
@josie Now who said that? And why?
@WillWorkForChocolate Dean Koontz is off beat and terrific. What a complement!
@Adagio You are giving too much power to the person who said that.
@Mariah You ARE strong. You may get tired, but that’s temporary.
@Bellatrix You’ve taught your daughter well. And your colleague’s opinions should make you feel very good.
@wildpotato Yes, you should. It’s never too late to try again.
@diavolobella Moments to remember always. What a thrill!

I was standing in the corridor with 7 6th grade girls, who had just come from a sex education class given by the oldest, sternest looking and acting teacher in the school. They were going on about what they had learned and suddenly one said, “Shh. Here comes a teacher.” I said, “What are you talking about, I’m a teacher. I’m standing right here!” And someone said, ”“Yeah, but you’re different. You’re a person.”

I was doing a photo shoot when I was considering acting. The photographer told me to get ten people who knew me to describe me in 5 words or short phrases. My favorite was from an employee
“Judi is kind, but don’t mistake her kindness for weakness.”
Best compliment I ever got.
Another friend called me “a truth sayer” but I’m not sure if that was just a nice way of saying that I don’t know when to keep my mouth shut.

Once I walked into the cafeteria where I worked and just randomly yelled, ’‘Excalibur, HO!’’. Then a friend there told me to never change, in regards to that public disturbance haha.

I worked in finance for years. I was there for my innovative thinking. I was not there because I was great with finance. For years I tried new methods and models of selling. They worked, I made tons of money. But I always felt lacking amongst my studious financial fellow colleagues.

We had a director, who was a qualified lawyer, as well as having degrees in finance. He was a quite person with a thoughtful approach. He used facts and figures. He was so opposite to me. When I resigned he called me in and tried to stop me from going. Then said “You are one of the best brokers we have ever had”

Even to this day, I hold that close to my heart. Because that was a compliment I had never expected.

When someone told me “You’re going to become something great one day” and I could see in her eyes that she really meant it. It was really awesome that someone thought that about me.

@tups That’s a real confidence builder!
@Shippy We don’t always know how others see us, do we?
@Symbeline That’s funny! Haven’t done it again, have you.
@Judi And that’s the truth!

@Sunny2 It was 33 years ago, I don’t even remember who said it other than the fact it was a male, that’s how much power they have over me : ^)

I have such a huge passion for writing. I allowed somebody to read one of my short stories and they told me that I had a “God-given gift”. They seemed truly sincere when they said it, too. It really touched me…I literally began to tear up!

My maternal grandma and I never really got on when I was younger. She’s an extremely spiteful person. She was always horrible to me as a child, and I knew from a very early age that I was her least favourite grandchild. When my grandad (her husband of 47 years) died, her other grandchildren – my brother and cousins – failed to provide her with any emotional support. I adored my grandad, and we bonded over our grief. Shortly after he died, I was very ill in bed, but managed to drag myself downstairs, pick up the phone and call her. She could hear I was very poorly and was sympathetic. I asked if any of her other grandchildren had been in touch and she told me no. Then she paused and said, “You’re the best out of all of them.” It really moved me, to hear the words come from the mouth of a woman whom I genuinely believed despised me!

@Sunny2 It would kill the moment if I did.

My sadly, now deceased, writing mentor that told me that my writing was like my personality, “formidable yet sincere.” I can live with that. :-)
My ex husband also told me that I was the funniest woman he ever knew and I have also been told that I am ” in a league of my own.”

When we were in the midst of divorcing, my now-ex-husband told me that knowing me had made him a better person. We still loved each other, but couldn’t stand to live together any longer.

I want to answer again because it so nice to remember compliments esp good ones that last years.

My ex whom I loved the most told me sometime soon after we broke up and was leaving the state that he lived in all his life. That “Rosehips, you will be the person I will miss the most, you understand me better and I love you more then any other person here.” It was kinda of a mind fook at the time. But I know that he meant it and after some time we are now good friends to this day.

Another one was from an English teacher. He thought I was a very good writer. In fact a haiku that I just scribbled down he felt certain I had stolen it from someone else.

@rosehips You never really ‘get over’ a true love. And you shouldn’t.
@augustlan That’s a really nice complement.
@Coloma No doubt both are true.
@lookingglassx3 Good for you to rise above the anger you must have felt, and be there when she needed someone. You were justly by her praise

Surely it was being asked to marry my husband.

I also cherish the memory of being told by my son that he was proud of me and glad I was his mother.

And outside the family, the greatest was definitely to have someone ask me to teach her what I know. She was speaking of my knowledge of the editing profession, but it might have been anything and I would have considered it a superlative compliment.