Quotes About Etiquette

Head nodding has its origins in bowing to appear subordinate.

Foreigners who think of Japan as a polite society have never ridden the Yamanote at rush hour. The

Mr. Gingham had the true spirit of his profession, and such words as funeral or coffin or hearse never passed his lips. He spoke always of interments, of caskets, and coaches, using terms that were calculated rather to bring out the majesty and sublimity of death than to parade its horrors.

Churchill said, Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.

Lateness is rude.

Since that era the question "Do you have any food restrictions?" has become a part of the etiquette of a dinner invitation, and participants at conference dinners can now tick a box that will replace a plate of rubber chicken with a plate of sodden eggplant.

As far as I'm concerned, whom is a word that was invented to make everyone sound like a butler.

The main danger in using these forms is that a more-grammatical-than-thou reader may falsely accuse you of making an error. If they do, tell them that Jane Austen and I think it's fine.

In general, referring to a person by a body part, physical trait, or typical accoutrement—that is, by a metonym—is dysphemistic.

Another major change we have lived through is an intolerance of displays of force in everyday life. In earlier decades a man's willingness to use his fists in response to an insult was the sign of respectability.52 Today it is the sign of a boor, a symptom of impulse control disorder, a ticket to anger management therapy.

Curious how Love destroys every vestige of that politeness which the human race, in its years of evolution, has so painfully acquired.

Manners are the happy ways of doing things; each once a stroke of genius or of love, now repeated and hardened into usage.

I love an old-school gentleman. Picking me up for dates, sending flowers, holding the door open, I love it all.

A gentleman is one who understands and shows every mark of deference to the claims of self-love in others, and exacts it in return from them.

I'd love to be a diva. But I'd then have to send so many apology notes for my abhorrent behaviour.

Women of quality are so civil, you can hardly distinguish love from good breeding.

France is the only place where you can make love in the afternoon without people hammering on your door.

There ought to be system of manners in every nation which a well-formed mind would be disposed to relish. To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.

You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you?

Een misplaatst gevoel voor goede smaak weerhield hem ervan te zeggen dat hij haar had gemist en haar zou blijven missen. Maar er waren momenten dat de goede smaak maar even de andere kant op moest kijken. 'Ik jou ook,' antwoordde Lizzie.

Sanity is knowing the rules of the social game, internalizing them, and following them.

Sanity is knowing the rules of the social game,

Last but not least, he hated with all the hatred that was in him the rising generation, the appalling boors who find it necessary to talk and laugh at the top of their voices in restaurants and cafes, who jostle you in the street without a word of apology, and who, without expressing or even indicating regret, drive the wheels of a baby-carriage into your legs.

Were I to prescribe a rule for drinking, it should be formed upon a saying quoted by Sir William Temple: the first glass for myself, the second for my friends, the third for good humor, and the fourth for mine enemies.