There is also this benefit in brag, that the speaker is unconsciously expressing his own ideal. Humor him by all means, draw it all out, and hold him to it.

The knowledge of yourself will preserve you from vanity.

For a man to attain to an eminent degree in learning costs him time, watching, hunger, nakedness, dizziness in the head, weakness in the stomach, and other inconveniences.

Alas! all music jars when the soul's out of tune.

That's the nature of women, not to love when we love them, and to love when we love them not.