In the immortal words of Kollektivet
“Give me compliments,
I said give me compliments,
Give me compliments,
I said give me compliments.”
It’s a universal need, clearly, which is why it made its way to Reddit.
What is the best compliment someone ever told you?
byu/wubdubbud inAskReddit
So what are the memorable ones – for better or for worse – that we really hold onto? Let’s see.
1. Thick corneas
I was having an eye test, and I was on a machine that measured the pressure of your eyeballs. Mine came up elevated, so the 70-year-old optician took another reading, and just said, “miss, you have the thickest corneas I have ever seen.” And for the rest of the appointment, he just kept telling me how great my corneas are.
Suffice to say, I now have the weirdest brag.
– CrazySnekGirl
2. Cat envy
“If I were a cat I would want to be your cat.” Spoken by the veterinarian after my little furry guy lost his battle with lymphoma.
So many people don’t visit their sick pets when they have to stay at the vet. I came every day to sit with the cat and pet him and feed him out of my hand. It makes a difference. A lot of animals don’t understand they’re in pet-hospital. They think they’re being abandoned and get really depressed. The extra love didn’t save my fur kid but it bought him time and he knew he was loved.
The vet even made a donation to a veterinary school in my cat’s name. (It’s rare but it happens). About the sincerest compliment it’s possible to pay.
– doublestitch
3. Video proficiency
“You’re videos are getting exponentially better. You could probably even do it professionally if you wanted to.”
7 years later and I’m now a documentary editor. Thanks Steve.
– LexB777
4. Sufficiently mischievous
My 6 year old nephew said, “if you were my age we’d always be in trouble. ”
– thecatsmeowings
5. Beautiful eyes
I went to rite aid to pick up a prescription. With a mask on. And the woman grabbed the prescription without asking my info.
I said, you remember me! Even with the mask! And she said yes because you have beautiful eyes.
It was just so sweet. It’s kind of superficial but it made me smile. I don’t regularly pick up from them so she has a good memory
– Dontbejillous
6. Round head
“You have perfectly round head.”
– Asian lady in Hawaii.
– extraguacontheside
7. You are liked
It wasn’t just one.
I almost died from a terrible accident. Friends wrote my wife letters letting her know what an impact I had on their lives.
Needless to say I survived. I read them all. I never knew I was so well liked.
– Dendad1218
8. Best of luck
When I retired I sent an email to everyone in the company that I worked with on a regular, semi regular or once in a while basis.
I said I was leaving, related how I was hired, what jobs I’d performed and what locations I’d worked. I told them that I’d miss the vast majority of them. And wished them well.
I got back about three dozen responses with all sorts of nice things written about me (I had no idea what a nice guy I must have been 😉 and a ton of ‘Best of Luck’ messages.
– Irrelavent1
9. My son should meet you
I’ve been a nurse in my NICU for 12 years. We have a core group of doctors so I’ve known them just as long. And I’ve managed to develop personal relationships with some of them.
The attending physician, a hardcore, flat affect, sometimes mean, will always make new nurses cry, likes very few people, and rarely ever calls people by their name told me last year she wanted to set me up with her son. It was the best compliment to know she thought so highly of me that she wanted me to meet her son.
She said her son needed a great woman in his life, referring to me. I thought back to the time she made me cry 12 years ago, to where were we were in that moment. It was the best.
– nessao616
10. So open
A few from a very good friend of mine
Just after we met “you’re so open! That’s very likeable!”
“I really wanted to do this with you!” (going out for a drink)
“I’m so very very proud of you!” (after I addressed some difficult stuff to my boss)
– mycrazyblackcat
11. Good Googles
‘You’re a good googler!’, was said by my online teacher after I found two articles in a row he had been looking for for years.
I’d like to think of myself as resourceful, so this was so nice to hear
– bobfish42
12. You’re normal
“You’re normal.”
It’s a treasured memory of mine. I was in 8th grade, didn’t really fit in and was bullied.
One day the popular girls went through the classroom and told everyone if they liked them or didn’t like them and why.
When they came to me, the head girl just said “you’re normal.” and left. I still don’t understand why, but I wasn’t bullied for the rest of the year.
– Shade0X
13. World changer
“That girl’s gonna change the world”
Wasn’t actually said to my face, I overheard it as I walked away
– cillywillywaterwhale
14. Congrats on the effort
After having a very depressing freshman year at college I needed to change my life around and get back on track academically, emotionally, and physically. I was immensely overweight and 430lb+ at end of my freshman year, this was effecting me all around and causing me to skip classes and fail. I started going to the school gym early in the morning what the place most mostly empty and started just walking and doing some of the weight machines.
I lost 85lb in 6 months, during this time there was another gym patron who was there quite often who was very fit and he came up to me and said he was impressed with my progress and noticed all the work I was putting in and just congratulated me on my efforts.
This really meant a lot to me, he probably didn’t even realize it. I don’t know his name or anything and he was basically a complete stranger but it really kept me motivated. I’ve lost over 200lbs in total, gained a lot of self-esteem, finished my undergrad with a pretty decent GPA, then my master’s degree with a 4.0 GPA and got hired into a pretty good job. Life is good.
– dingle__berries
15. Above and beyond
“You are 95% exactly what I hoped you would grow up to be. That other 5% doesn’t make you any less, it’s just the 5% I never dared to hope for.”
From my dad after planning a destination wedding for a sister in another state, her engagement party (which was awesome because we were skeet shooting), while working full time and kids and Covid. He didn’t know how much that stuck.
– Pinapple_salsa
16. Pride and joy
My 6 year old said “Im proud of you, daddy” one day after a long day of school and work.
He had just learned what ‘proud’ meant and was using it a lot, but this one hit differently.
– cl_solutions
17. Extremely cute
A random guy at a coffee shop wrote, “I just wanted you to know, I think you’re EXTREMELY CUTE!” on a scrap of paper and dropped it on my table as he walked out.
It’s still taped to my monitor and this happened in 1998.
– NotWorriedABunch
18. Safety and security
My gf earlier this evening told me ‘I feel safe when I’m with you.’
As an addict in recovery, that is a huge one to hear. Very humbling.
Probably made my whole next week.
– Yankthebandaid
19. Being genuine
I was told “You are the most genuine person I have ever met.”
– wyrd_werks
20. Get it together
“I’m proud of you.”
—my dad, after I managed to get my bipolar disorder stabilized, built a life for myself, and repaired the fractured relationships with my family members.
I didn’t realize how much I craved his approval until I finally got it.
– Unsolicited_Spiders
21. All the way across the sky
“you’re like a triple rainbow. Incredibly beautiful and you only show up once in a lifetime.”
From my best friend – he was too drunk to remember he’d said it the morning after!
But it’s stuck with me. Always makes me smile.
– emohelelwhy
22. A celebration
After a funeral service, the widow of the deceased came to see me at the console before the hearse and procession departed for the cemetery.
As I once related, she said: “I want to thank you for your uplifting music. Instead of what could have been a mournful occasion, you turned my husband’s funeral into a true celebration of his life.”
Not long thereafter, the church received a very substantial check from her to pay for a performance of Mozart’s Requiem with orchestra in his memory.
– Back2Bach
23. Good kids
“Your son is really well behaved and very sweet.”
I always appreciate it when people compliment our son. That’s more his compliment than mine but still nice to hear.
Especially since my wife and I had him when we were a bit young, and we feel like we are judged sometimes for our age.
That always lets us know we are doing okay though.
– kirbinator52
24. Hair for it
An old lady on the bus told me women would only dream of having hair as beautiful as mine.
I’m a guy.
– Wepoozelator
25. A beautiful mind
“You have a beautiful mind.”
From a professor famous for being hard on his students.
I worked darn hard in his classes and it felt so good to get that recognition.
– superfuluous_u
26. Little eyes
I was in Ihop and this one orange haired girl looked at me and smiled as she went into the kitchen and then after me and my dad finished eating and paid the girl came again and said “You’re just so cute, I like looking at your little eyes”
I was blushing and smiling the entire way home
– LeeFromDollarTree
27. An absolute privilege
I remember when I was in the 6th grade we used to have these extracurricular clubs once a month. There were many different types, and I picked the writing club, because I loved books. Before the Hunger Games became a big film I had become a huge fan not long after they were first published.
The teacher who was head of the our club was set to retire that year. Once of our assignments was to write a book review about a book we liked. When she read mine she told me how good it was and that, “It would’ve been a privilege to be your teacher.”
The people who came and went along the way of my adolescence left a big impact on me. I think what every kid needs is someone who notices them, believes in them, and tells them in so many words that they are someone of value and potential. I will never forget the peers and the teachers who believed in me along the way.
– CatVietnamFlashBack
28. Funniest friend
One of my buddies back in the day of early Facebook was doing one of those survey type things where you give a bunch of accolades to various friends.
He’d never said this to me personally but listed me as the funniest person he knew personally.
I was living off that for a while. Probably still am ?
– Mista_Madridista
29. True strength
One comes to mind in the last few months, one of my long time friend dropped this: “You are inhumanely strong”
It wasn’t about physical strength, rather just dealing with life.
– A11ce
30. Coolest person
For my friends’ wedding they invited their friends [me] and family to a lodge for the weekend, where we spent the time socializing and playing videogames with the ceremony on Saturday. It was an awesome and memorable weekend, and I highly enjoyed myself.
On Sunday evening I was packing my car to go, having said goodbye to most of the family/friends. The groom’s youngest brother [about 14/15] approached me to say “hey man, just wanted to tell you, you were the coolest person I met this weekend.”
It was a simple thing, but meant a lot to me. I didn’t realize I’d made that much of an impact on the kid’s weekend.
– Cutter9792
Those are, indeed, some world-class compliments.
What’s the most memorable one you’ve ever received?
Tell us in the comments.