Quotes About Politeness

others is required, it probably indicates a lack of courtesy—that is, a lack of manners.

We say, "That's a very interesting idea," when we have no intention of taking the idea seriously.

Nothing could be more impolite. To say, "Is your sheep genuine?" would be a worse breach of manners.

There was something very strange about the way he was super-polite to us, and then turned raging-beliigerent to invisible people on the other end of the phone, What he was shouting looked an awful lot like the kind of stuff that couldn't be fixed-that the people on the other end wouldn't forgive.

Victor smiled politely in return, the way someone smiles when they're thanked for having done a minor favor in times past. Held open a door in the rain, lent someone a small amount of money, butchered an ex-lover, that sort of thing.

Being polite is not only the right way to respond to people but also the easiest. Life is so filled with unavoidable conflict that I see no reason to promote more confrontations.

Being polite is not only the right way to respond to people but also the easiest.

How many times,' Samad growled, after watching his son purchase the autobiography of Malcolm X, 'is it necessary to say thank you in a single transaction? Thank you when you hand the book over, thank you when she receives it, thank you when she tells you the price, thank you when you sign the cheque, thank you when she takes it! They call it English politeness when it is simply arrogance. The only being who deserves this kind of thanks is Allah himself!

What everyone agreed was not very nice, was the way Clémence had carried on. Obviously, she wasn't the kind of girl you'd ask again: she'd ended up showing off everything she'd got, and she'd puked all down one of the muslin curtains and completely ruined it. At least the men did go into the street to do it; Lorilleux and Poisson, when they felt queer, managed to dash as far as the pork-butcher's shop. Breeding always tells.

My father used to say that one of the great offences of sham politeness was the neglect of promises. When anything is demanded of you that you cannot do, refuse positively and leave no loopholes for false hopes; on the other hand, grant at once whatever you are willing to bestow.

Emilie, as much nettled by his politeness as she might have been by an impertinence, began talking to her brother in a louder voice than good taste enjoined; she turned and tossed her head, gesticulated eagerly, and laughed for no particular reason, less to amuse her brother than to attract the attention of the imperturbable stranger. None of her little arts succeeded.

Manners are the hypocrisy of a nation.

He found himself smiling and talking politely to people who desired to show their respect and admiration for his uniform-instead of ignoring them and turning away. His sense of separation from and annoyance with these men and women who talked so glibly of war and who had not the faintest notion of what war was ebbed away; and he began to accept the fact that to chatter nonsense with neither knowledge nor perception was the ordinary manner of mankind.

Early on, I'd got a sample of how Cornelia Tell questioned all motives for politeness. I'd sat down and said, "Would it be too much trouble if I got a scone with my coffee?" Cornelia Tell shot back, "Even if it does cause me trouble, do you still want a scone?" I never put it that way again, believe me. I just said, "I'd like a scone.

details.' 'Thank you, sir.

Do you ever drink any of the cups of tea that get made for you?' Rebus asked, gesturing towards the still-full mug. 'Don't really like the stuff,' Creasey admitted. 'But people do seem to enjoy making it.

Any society which enjoins its members to adhere to both of these (politeness and truth) is a fraud.

Straightforwardness, without the rules of propriety, becomes rudeness.

Respect yourself and others will respect you.

For example, in Paris, if one desires to buy something, you enter the store and say "Good morning, sir" or "madam," depending on what is appropriate, you wait until you are greeted, you make polite chitchat about the weather or some such, and when the salesperson asks what they can do for you, then and only then do you bring up the vulgar business of the transaction you require.

I've done some crazy things in my life, but asking women their age isn't one of them.

There are white people who know how to act politely to blacks, but deep down you know they're uncomfortable. They're worse, more dangerous than those who speak their minds, because they don't know what they're capable of.

Don't stand in front of the TV when other people are watching it.

If you want to get away from someone, check your watch and say, "Sorry, gotta go!