Quotes About Etiquette

Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen.

Apologize, v: to lay the foundation for a future offence.

To do exactly as your neighbors do is the only sensible rule.

Superior people never make long visits.

Minimum information given with maximum politeness.

Don't confuse being stimulating with being blunt.

It is sometimes the man who opens the door who is the last to enter the room.

The cocktail party - as the name itself indicates - was originally invented by dogs. They are simply bottom-sniffings raised to the rank of formal ceremonies.

The cocktail party - a device for paying off obligations to people you don't want to invite to dinner.

Whatever people may say, the fastidious formal manner of the upper classes is preferable to the slovenly easygoing behaviour of the common middle class. In moments of crisis, the former know how to act, the latter become uncouth brutes.

If the announcer can produce the impression that he is a gentleman, he may pronounce as he pleases.

If you your lips would keep from slips, Five things observe with care; To whom you speak, of whom you speak, And how, and when, and where.

The great majority of successful business men and women have been and are possessors of strong personalities of the right sort, and by analyzing their climb to success it is amazing to discover how large a part good manners, good breeding, and correct behavior have had in helping them to win the goal.

Silence is not always tact, and it is tact that is golden, not silence.

To have the reputation of possessing the most perfect social tact, talk to every woman as if you loved her, and to every man as if he bored you.

The audience was swell. They were so polite they covered their mouths when they yawned.

Humility is a virtue, and it is a virtue innate in guests.

When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.

Avoid witticisms at the expense of Others.

The best way to save face is keep the bottom half shut.

Dialect words - those terrible marks of the beast to the truly genteel.

Courtesy is a little thing that makes a big difference.

Well, the English have no family feelings. That is, none of the kind you mean. They have them, and one of them is that relations must cause no expense.

tact is the ability to deal with people sensitively, to avoid giving offense, to have a "feel" for the proper words or responses to a delicate situation.