In the long run an opinion often borrows credit from the forbearance of its patrons. Henry James
Mere bashfulness without merit is awkward; and merit without modesty, insolent. But modest merit has a double claim to acceptance, and generally meets with as many patrons as beholders. Joseph Addison
Far from participating in a current literary scene agog with vogue and hyperbole, the LRB has kept what is widely perceived as a mandarin aloofness from it. Complicity with the institutions of literature, whether patrons or advertisers, is scarcely a charge that can be made against the paper. Perry Anderson
When I sell liquor, they call it bootlegging. When my patrons serve it on silver trays on Lake Shore Drive, they call it hospitality. Al Capone
Ah! let not Censure term our fate our choice, The stage but echoes back the public's voice; The drama's laws the drama's patrons give, For we that live to please must please to live. Samuel Johnson
Sometimes you don't know what is better: to talk with the governments of some States or directly with their American patrons and sponsors. Vladimir Putin