Quotes On Manners
“I am always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
“Oh Tigger, where are your manners?"
"I don’t know, but I bet they’re having more fun than I am.”
― A.A. Milne
“Call a jack a jack. Call a spade a spade. But always call a whore a lady. Their lives are hard enough, and it never hurts to be polite.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
“Top 15 Things Money Can’t Buy
Time. Happiness. Inner Peace. Integrity. Love. Character. Manners. Health. Respect. Morals. Trust. Patience. Class. Common sense. Dignity.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
“Everything in this room is edible. Even I'm edible. But, that would be called canibalism. It is looked down upon in most societies.”
― Tim Burton, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
“For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them.”
― Thomas More, Utopia
“Always speak politely to an enraged dragon.”
― Steven Brust, Jhereg
“The world was my oyster but I used the wrong fork.”
― Oscar Wilde
“Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners”
― Laurence Sterne
“A true gentleman is one that apologizes anyways, even though he has not offended a lady intentionally. He is in a class all of his own because he knows the value of a woman's heart.”
― Shannon L. Alder
“A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
“It is a wise thing to be polite; consequently, it is a stupid thing to be rude. To make enemies by unnecessary and willful incivility, is just as insane a proceeding as to set your house on fire. For politeness is like a counter--an avowedly false coin, with which it is foolish to be stingy.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer, The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims
“Life is short, but there is always time enough for courtesy.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”
― bell hooks
“And Zach was taking his jacket off and draping it around my shoulders, which (according to Liz, who double checked with Macey) is the single-sexiest thing a guy can do.”
― Ally Carter, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover
“The real test of good manners is to be able to put up with bad manners pleasantly.”
― Kahlil Gibran
“A gentleman holds my hand.
A man pulls my hair.
A soulmate will do both.”
― Alessandra Torre
“I'm making a list
I'm making a list of things I must say
For politeness,
And goodness and kindness and gentleness
Sweetness and rightness:
Hello
Pardon me
How are you?
Excuse me
Bless you
May I?
Thank you
Goodbye
If you know some that I've forgot,
Please stick them in you eye!”
― Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends
“It was growing late, and though one might stand on the brink of a deep chasm of disaster, one was still obliged to dress for dinner.”
― Georgette Heyer, April Lady
“While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice our local destination. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation, while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candour, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world.”
― John Adams, Thoughts On Government Applicable To The Present State Of The American Colonies.: Philadelphia, Printed By John Dunlap, M,Dcc,Lxxxvi
“Politeness [is] a sign of dignity, not subservience.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
“God gave you a gift of 84,600 seconds today. Have you used one of them to say thank you?”
― William Arthur Ward
“Being classy is my teenage rebellion.”
― Rebecca McKinsey
“I was raised right — I talk about people behind their backs. It's called manners.”
― Kathy Griffin
“No one is more insufferable than he who lacks basic courtesy.”
― Bryant McGill
“Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.”
― Emily Post
“Handsome is as handsome does”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“I believe that treating other people well is a lost art.”
― Tim Gunn, Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work
“It is time to effect a revolution in female manners - time to restore to them their lost dignity - and make them, as a part of the human species, labour by reforming themselves to reform the world. It is time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners.”
― Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
“-Mikhail?...Try making suggestions next time, or just plain asking. You go do whatever it is you're doing, and I'll go search you extensive library for a book on manners.
-You will not find it.
-Why am I not surprised?”
― Christine Feehan, Dark Prince
“I am always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
“Oh Tigger, where are your manners?"
"I don’t know, but I bet they’re having more fun than I am.”
― A.A. Milne
“Call a jack a jack. Call a spade a spade. But always call a whore a lady. Their lives are hard enough, and it never hurts to be polite.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
“Top 15 Things Money Can’t Buy
Time. Happiness. Inner Peace. Integrity. Love. Character. Manners. Health. Respect. Morals. Trust. Patience. Class. Common sense. Dignity.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
“Everything in this room is edible. Even I'm edible. But, that would be called canibalism. It is looked down upon in most societies.”
― Tim Burton, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
“For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them.”
― Thomas More, Utopia
“Always speak politely to an enraged dragon.”
― Steven Brust, Jhereg
“The world was my oyster but I used the wrong fork.”
― Oscar Wilde
“Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners”
― Laurence Sterne
“A true gentleman is one that apologizes anyways, even though he has not offended a lady intentionally. He is in a class all of his own because he knows the value of a woman's heart.”
― Shannon L. Alder
“A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
“It is a wise thing to be polite; consequently, it is a stupid thing to be rude. To make enemies by unnecessary and willful incivility, is just as insane a proceeding as to set your house on fire. For politeness is like a counter--an avowedly false coin, with which it is foolish to be stingy.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer, The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims
“Life is short, but there is always time enough for courtesy.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”
― bell hooks
“And Zach was taking his jacket off and draping it around my shoulders, which (according to Liz, who double checked with Macey) is the single-sexiest thing a guy can do.”
― Ally Carter, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover
“The real test of good manners is to be able to put up with bad manners pleasantly.”
― Kahlil Gibran
“A gentleman holds my hand.
A man pulls my hair.
A soulmate will do both.”
― Alessandra Torre
“I'm making a list
I'm making a list of things I must say
For politeness,
And goodness and kindness and gentleness
Sweetness and rightness:
Hello
Pardon me
How are you?
Excuse me
Bless you
May I?
Thank you
Goodbye
If you know some that I've forgot,
Please stick them in you eye!”
― Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends
“It was growing late, and though one might stand on the brink of a deep chasm of disaster, one was still obliged to dress for dinner.”
― Georgette Heyer, April Lady
“While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice our local destination. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation, while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candour, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world.”
― John Adams, Thoughts On Government Applicable To The Present State Of The American Colonies.: Philadelphia, Printed By John Dunlap, M,Dcc,Lxxxvi
“Politeness [is] a sign of dignity, not subservience.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
“God gave you a gift of 84,600 seconds today. Have you used one of them to say thank you?”
― William Arthur Ward
“Being classy is my teenage rebellion.”
― Rebecca McKinsey
“I was raised right — I talk about people behind their backs. It's called manners.”
― Kathy Griffin
“No one is more insufferable than he who lacks basic courtesy.”
― Bryant McGill
“Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.”
― Emily Post
“Handsome is as handsome does”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“I believe that treating other people well is a lost art.”
― Tim Gunn, Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work
“It is time to effect a revolution in female manners - time to restore to them their lost dignity - and make them, as a part of the human species, labour by reforming themselves to reform the world. It is time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners.”
― Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
“-Mikhail?...Try making suggestions next time, or just plain asking. You go do whatever it is you're doing, and I'll go search you extensive library for a book on manners.
-You will not find it.
-Why am I not surprised?”
― Christine Feehan, Dark Prince
“And now, gentlemen, like your manners, I must leave you.”
― Dylan Thomas, Rebecca's Daughters
“Be pretty if you can, be witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you.”
― Elsie De Wolfe
“Arriving late was a way of saying that your own time was more valuable than the time of the person who waited for you.”
― Karen Joy Fowler, The Jane Austen Book Club
“Wouldn't he know without being asked?' said Polly.
'I've no doubt he would,' said the Horse (still with his mouth full). 'But I've a sort of an idea he likes to be asked.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew
“There is no rest for the person who has envy, and there is no love for the person who has bad manners.”
― Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S
“Don’t ever stray from yourself, in order to be close to someone that doesn’t have the courtesy to remind you of your worth, or the integrity of a gentleman to walk you home.”
― Shannon L. Alder
“Good manners have much to do with the emotions. To make them ring true, one must feel them, not merely exhibit them.”
― Amy Vanderbilt
“A mans manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“As a Texan, I say ma'm and sir to my age contemporaries and open doors for anyone that I can. This goes for men, too, though it is appreciated when they beat me to it and disappointing when they don't.”
― Tiffany Madison
“I threw an etiquette party and served nothing but beans and sparkling water. The topic of conversation was ‘excuse me’.”
― Bauvard, Some Inspiration for the Overenthusiastic
“She felt so lost and lonely. One last chile in walnut sauce left on the platter after a fancy dinner couldn't feel any worse than she did. How many times had she eaten one of those treats, standing by herself in the kitchen, rather than let it be thrown away. When nobody eats the last chile on the plate, it's usually because none of them wants to look like a glutton, so even though they'd really like to devour it, they don't have the nerve to take it. It was as if they were rejecting that stuffed pepper, which contains every imaginable flavor; sweet as candied citron, juicy as pomegranate, with the bit of pepper and the subtlety of walnuts, that marvelous chile in the walnut sauce. Within it lies the secret of love, but it will never be penetrated, and all because it wouldn't feel proper.”
― Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate
“Charming villains have always had a decided social advantage over well-meaning people who chew with their mouths open.
”
― Judith Martin
“Fashion is neither moral or immoral, but it is for rebuilding the morale.”
― Karl Lagerfeld
“The line between the public life and the private life has been erased, due to the rapid decline of manners and courtesy. There is a certain crudeness and crassness that has suddenly become accepted behavior, even desirable.”
― FannieFlagg, Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!
“I smiled back, the importance of manners, my mother always said, is inversely related to how inclined one is to use them, or, in other words, sometimes politeness is all that stands between oneself and madness.”
― Nicole Krauss, Great House
“O, Times! O, Manners! It is my opinion
That you are changing sadly your dominion
I mean the reign of manners hath long ceased,
For men have none at all, or bad at least;
And as for times, altho' 'tis said by many
The "good old times" were far the worst of any,
Of which sound Doctrine I believe each tittle
Yet still I think these worst a little.
I've been a thinking -isn't that the phrase?-
I like your Yankee words and Yankee ways -
I've been a thinking, whether it were best
To Take things seriously, Or all in jest”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Poetry, Tales and Selected Essays
“A hat should be taken off when greeting a lady, and left off the rest of your life. Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.”
― P.J. O'Rourke, Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for Rude People
“It is good to dress in fair clothes to dine with friends. It honors your host, if you are a guest; and your guest if you are a host. And both adorn the feast, and so celebrate the gifts of the world.”
― Alison Croggon
“How very kind of her, ' I said. 'I must remember to send her a card.'
I'd send her a card alright. It would be the Ace of Spades, and I'd mail it anonymously from somewhere other than Bishop's Lacey.”
― Alan Bradley, A Red Herring Without Mustard
“...I'd been raised by my parents to believe barfing your feelings on other people was the height of impoliteness...”
― Stephen King, Joyland
“It's the height of bad manners to sleep with somebody less than three times.”
― Mark Boxer
“Manners are the ability to put someone else at their ease...by turning any answer into another question.”
― Tina Brown
“لقد حدد رسول الإسلام الغاية الأولى من بعثته، والمنهاج المبين في دعوته بقوله إنما بعثت لأتمم مكارم الأخلاق”
― محمد الغزالي, خلق المسلم
“You only had to choose which me to talk to, for, you know, we all change our manners, depending on who has come to chat. One doesn’t behave at all the same way to a grandfather as to a bosom friend, to a professor as to a curious niece.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There
“...the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.”
― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
“You cannot escape that you are a woman,” she began.
“I wish I could,” Firekeeper muttered, but Elise continued as if she hadn’t heard.
“Since you cannot, you cannot escape the expectations that our society and our class places upon women.”
“Why?” Firekeeper said querulously.
“...Consider,” she offered, “what you told me about learning to see at night so that you could hunt with the wolves. Learning to wear a gown, to walk gracefully, to eat politely…”
“I do that!”
“You’re learning,” Elise admitted, “but don’t change the subject. All of these are ways of learning to see in the dark.”
“Maybe,” Firekeeper said, her tone unconvinced.
“Can you climb a tree?”
“Yes.”
“Swim?”
“Yes!” This second affirmative was almost indignant.
“And these skills let you go places that you could not go without them.”
Stubborn silence. Elise pressed her point.
“Why do you like knowing how to shoot a bow?”
“It lets me kill farther,” came the answer, almost in a growl.
“And using a sword does the same?”
“Yes.”
“Let me tell you, Firekeeper, knowing a woman’s arts can keep you alive, let you invade private sanctums, even help you to subdue your enemies. If you don’t know those arts, others who do will always have an advantage over you.”
“All this from wearing a gown that tangles your feet?”
― Jane Lindskold, Through Wolf's Eyes
“Good manners are not merely snobbish ornaments, as Mrs. Lippett's regime appeared to believe. They mean self-discipline and thought for others, and my children have got to learn them.”
― Jean Webster, Dear Enemy
“Please stop,” I said politely—he was that big. One should always mind one’s manners around big things.”
― Lish McBride, Necromancing the Stone
“He had beautiful manners. Which, if you ask me, was mostly a question of saying nothing, to anyone, ever.”
― Anne Enright, The Gathering
“Vijaya prefers to eat alone. Rob ushered her into the room and held a chair for her, then sat across from her. "Many Indians regard eating as something that should be done in private. Considering the table manners of some of our best people, one can see their point."
Patricia Frances Rowell”
― Patricia Frances Rowell
― Dylan Thomas, Rebecca's Daughters
“Be pretty if you can, be witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you.”
― Elsie De Wolfe
“Arriving late was a way of saying that your own time was more valuable than the time of the person who waited for you.”
― Karen Joy Fowler, The Jane Austen Book Club
“Wouldn't he know without being asked?' said Polly.
'I've no doubt he would,' said the Horse (still with his mouth full). 'But I've a sort of an idea he likes to be asked.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew
“There is no rest for the person who has envy, and there is no love for the person who has bad manners.”
― Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S
“Don’t ever stray from yourself, in order to be close to someone that doesn’t have the courtesy to remind you of your worth, or the integrity of a gentleman to walk you home.”
― Shannon L. Alder
“Good manners have much to do with the emotions. To make them ring true, one must feel them, not merely exhibit them.”
― Amy Vanderbilt
“A mans manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“As a Texan, I say ma'm and sir to my age contemporaries and open doors for anyone that I can. This goes for men, too, though it is appreciated when they beat me to it and disappointing when they don't.”
― Tiffany Madison
“I threw an etiquette party and served nothing but beans and sparkling water. The topic of conversation was ‘excuse me’.”
― Bauvard, Some Inspiration for the Overenthusiastic
“She felt so lost and lonely. One last chile in walnut sauce left on the platter after a fancy dinner couldn't feel any worse than she did. How many times had she eaten one of those treats, standing by herself in the kitchen, rather than let it be thrown away. When nobody eats the last chile on the plate, it's usually because none of them wants to look like a glutton, so even though they'd really like to devour it, they don't have the nerve to take it. It was as if they were rejecting that stuffed pepper, which contains every imaginable flavor; sweet as candied citron, juicy as pomegranate, with the bit of pepper and the subtlety of walnuts, that marvelous chile in the walnut sauce. Within it lies the secret of love, but it will never be penetrated, and all because it wouldn't feel proper.”
― Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate
“Charming villains have always had a decided social advantage over well-meaning people who chew with their mouths open.
”
― Judith Martin
“Fashion is neither moral or immoral, but it is for rebuilding the morale.”
― Karl Lagerfeld
“The line between the public life and the private life has been erased, due to the rapid decline of manners and courtesy. There is a certain crudeness and crassness that has suddenly become accepted behavior, even desirable.”
― FannieFlagg, Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!
“I smiled back, the importance of manners, my mother always said, is inversely related to how inclined one is to use them, or, in other words, sometimes politeness is all that stands between oneself and madness.”
― Nicole Krauss, Great House
“O, Times! O, Manners! It is my opinion
That you are changing sadly your dominion
I mean the reign of manners hath long ceased,
For men have none at all, or bad at least;
And as for times, altho' 'tis said by many
The "good old times" were far the worst of any,
Of which sound Doctrine I believe each tittle
Yet still I think these worst a little.
I've been a thinking -isn't that the phrase?-
I like your Yankee words and Yankee ways -
I've been a thinking, whether it were best
To Take things seriously, Or all in jest”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Poetry, Tales and Selected Essays
“A hat should be taken off when greeting a lady, and left off the rest of your life. Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.”
― P.J. O'Rourke, Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for Rude People
“It is good to dress in fair clothes to dine with friends. It honors your host, if you are a guest; and your guest if you are a host. And both adorn the feast, and so celebrate the gifts of the world.”
― Alison Croggon
“How very kind of her, ' I said. 'I must remember to send her a card.'
I'd send her a card alright. It would be the Ace of Spades, and I'd mail it anonymously from somewhere other than Bishop's Lacey.”
― Alan Bradley, A Red Herring Without Mustard
“...I'd been raised by my parents to believe barfing your feelings on other people was the height of impoliteness...”
― Stephen King, Joyland
“It's the height of bad manners to sleep with somebody less than three times.”
― Mark Boxer
“Manners are the ability to put someone else at their ease...by turning any answer into another question.”
― Tina Brown
“لقد حدد رسول الإسلام الغاية الأولى من بعثته، والمنهاج المبين في دعوته بقوله إنما بعثت لأتمم مكارم الأخلاق”
― محمد الغزالي, خلق المسلم
“You only had to choose which me to talk to, for, you know, we all change our manners, depending on who has come to chat. One doesn’t behave at all the same way to a grandfather as to a bosom friend, to a professor as to a curious niece.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There
“...the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.”
― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
“You cannot escape that you are a woman,” she began.
“I wish I could,” Firekeeper muttered, but Elise continued as if she hadn’t heard.
“Since you cannot, you cannot escape the expectations that our society and our class places upon women.”
“Why?” Firekeeper said querulously.
“...Consider,” she offered, “what you told me about learning to see at night so that you could hunt with the wolves. Learning to wear a gown, to walk gracefully, to eat politely…”
“I do that!”
“You’re learning,” Elise admitted, “but don’t change the subject. All of these are ways of learning to see in the dark.”
“Maybe,” Firekeeper said, her tone unconvinced.
“Can you climb a tree?”
“Yes.”
“Swim?”
“Yes!” This second affirmative was almost indignant.
“And these skills let you go places that you could not go without them.”
Stubborn silence. Elise pressed her point.
“Why do you like knowing how to shoot a bow?”
“It lets me kill farther,” came the answer, almost in a growl.
“And using a sword does the same?”
“Yes.”
“Let me tell you, Firekeeper, knowing a woman’s arts can keep you alive, let you invade private sanctums, even help you to subdue your enemies. If you don’t know those arts, others who do will always have an advantage over you.”
“All this from wearing a gown that tangles your feet?”
― Jane Lindskold, Through Wolf's Eyes
“Good manners are not merely snobbish ornaments, as Mrs. Lippett's regime appeared to believe. They mean self-discipline and thought for others, and my children have got to learn them.”
― Jean Webster, Dear Enemy
“Please stop,” I said politely—he was that big. One should always mind one’s manners around big things.”
― Lish McBride, Necromancing the Stone
“He had beautiful manners. Which, if you ask me, was mostly a question of saying nothing, to anyone, ever.”
― Anne Enright, The Gathering
“Vijaya prefers to eat alone. Rob ushered her into the room and held a chair for her, then sat across from her. "Many Indians regard eating as something that should be done in private. Considering the table manners of some of our best people, one can see their point."
Patricia Frances Rowell”
― Patricia Frances Rowell