I forget more often than I remember that my relationships are something to handle with care and if I don't I will break the fragile bond that connects my heart to others. So while I am challenged and frustrated with myself for not respecting the fragility of the people in my life, I am also grateful for the reminder to be more mindful of the practice to "handle with care."
There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.
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