Quotes About Etiquette

As it had been with Dreyfusism, so it was with the marriage of Saint-Loup and Odette's daughter, a marriage people protested against at first. Now that people met everyone they knew at the Saint-Loups', Gilberte might have had the morals of Odette herself, people would have gone there just the same and would have agreed with Gilberte in condemning undigested moral novelties like a dowager-duchess.

It was the time when well-bred people observed the rule of affability and what was called the rule of the three adjectives.

One sure way to lose another woman's friendship is to try to improve her flower arrangements.

Eating without conversation is only stoking.

The number of guests at dinner should not be less than the number of the Graces nor exceed that of the Muses, i.e., it should begin with three and stop at nine.

In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry.

I have a respect for manners as such, they are a way of dealing with people you don't agree with or like.

A cat may look at a king, but he might also lose a bit of fur for it.

Sir,"she said,"you are no gentleman!" An apt observation,"he answered airily."And, you, Miss, are no lady.

To have a man who can flirt is next thing to indispensable to a leader of society.

Behind every rule of table etiquette lurks the determination of each person present to be a diner, not a dish. It is one of the chief roles of etiquette to keep the lid on the violence which the meal being eaten presupposes.

Friends and good manners will carry you where money won't go.

Being agreeable' is the highest duty of any human being mingling with other people….Practicing good manners should be as natural as displaying the teeth").

Above a patron—though I condescend   Sometimes to call a minister my friend.

Good manners warred with curiosity, and lost.

Fear had a tendency to drive away the courtesy of civilization.

Said Aristotle unto Plato, 'Have another sweet potato?' Said Plato unto Aristotle, 'Thank you, I prefer the bottle.'

A good apprentice cook must be as polite with the dishwasher as with the chef.

The Italians were eating with forks when the French were still eating each other.

Dine we must and we may as well dine elegantly as well as wholesomely.

Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry gets the best of the argument.

The only occasion when the traditions of courtesy permit a hostess to help herself before a woman guest is when she has reason to believe the food is poisoned.

Never take more than your share - whether of the road in driving your car, of chairs on a boat or seats on a train, or food at the table.

I wonder if it's rude for a deaf person to talk with food in their hands.