Merely innocent flirtation,
Not quite adultery, but adulteration.
Lord Byron (George Gordon, Sixth Baron Byron) 1788-1824 ‘Don Juan’ (1819-24) canto 12, st. 63
To avoid mistakes and regrets, always consult your wife before engaging in a flirtation.
E.W. Howe
If you’re a gifted flirt, talking about the price of eggs will do as well as any other subject.
Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960
Flirtation: attention without intention.
Max O’Rell, John Bull and His Island
Women flirt to keep their stock high, men to get somewhere.
Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960
The greatest miracle of love is the cure of coquetry.
François Duc de la Rochefoucauld, Maxims
Why does a man take it for granted that a girl who flirts with him wants him to kiss her – when, nine times out of ten, she only wants him to want to kiss her?
Helen Rowland
Women know not the whole of their coquetry.
François Duc de la Rochefoucauld, Maxims
Beauty is power; a smile is its sword.
Charles Reade
The coquets of both sexes are self-lovers, and that is a love no other whatever can dispossess.
John Gay, The Beggar’s Opera
Coquetry is the essential characteristic, and the prevalent humor of women; but they do not all practice it, because the coquetry of some is restrained by fear or by reason.
François Duc de la Rochefoucauld, Maxims
Coquetry whets the appetite; flirtation depraves it. Coquetry is the thorn that guards the rose – easily trimmed off when once plucked. Flirtation is like the slime on water-plants, making them hard to handle, and when caught, only to be cherished in slimy waters.
Ik Marvel
And I highly recommend for all the women in the world, even if they’re 71, you can never take for granted that he loves you. It’s always good to flirt with him. It’s a great sport.
Salma Hayek
For a married woman to flirt is a sin.
Anna Held