Quotes About Etiquette

For the first time in my life I understood the true purpose of this sort of formal greeting. It gives you a script to follow when you have absolutely no idea what to say.

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." Hetera

Every culture is different, but one thing is always true: the surest way to give offense is to refuse the hospitality of your host.

Si c'est un valet, annonce un valet. Si c'est un pique, annonce un pique. Mais pour une putain, tu dois toujours dire une « dame ». Leur vie est déjà assez pénible, et la politesse n'a jamais tué personne

my father used to say: "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.

By speaking out of turn you refuse your turn to speak.

The difference is between saying something TO a person and saying something ABOUT a person. The first might be rude but the second is always gossip".

comport yourself with more decorum in the future.

was no gentleman.

We're okay." I don't know why I say that. Sometimes good manners are a curse.

One must never own up to a fart in public. That is the unwritten law, the single most stringent protocol of American etiquette. Farts come from no one and nowhere; they are anonymous emanations that belong to the group as a whole, and even when every person in the room can point to the culprit, the only sane course of action is denial.

In polite democratic society its important to note stratification but impolite to label the layers.

As tempting as it seems to wear tennis shoes with your tux, don't do it. I think it looks ridiculous. If you're 14 years old, maybe give it a shot. In general, don't portray anything that says 'I'm too cool and I don't care.'

No one can be as calculatedly rude as the British, which amazes Americans, who do not understand studied insult and can only offer abuse as a substitute.

I wish I had the nerve not to tip.

Where I come from, you don't really talk about how much you're earning. Those things are private. My dad never told my mum how much he was earning. I'm certainly not going to tell the world. I'm doing well.

If you're going to get a card for somebody you don't really care about, they should make cards that say that. "You're a friend of my wife's cousin–the hell with you." "We hardly know you. What did you expect, cash?"

Underlings should always be uncomfortable in the presence of their superiors," said the Emperor. "Don't you agree?

Politeness is organized indifference.

You don't know what you feel, he said sharply. That's what manners are for--to keep things going when one doesn't know.

would have liked to kiss her on the cheek but he had no idea if the Kiowas kissed one another or if so, did grandfathers kiss granddaughters. You never knew. Cultures were mine fields. He patted the air with a gentle motion. Sit. Stay.

There were other things,too, to ask him. Always she tries to be less forward. Always she tried to find the right thing to say and didn't trust the etiquette pendulum swinging in her head, so she simply said nothing, which was perceived either as painful shyness of haughtiness. Dasha never had that problem. She just said the first thing that came into her head. Tatiana knew she needed to rust her inner voice more. It was certainly loud enough

You can say the same thing nicely.

Has any non-dipshit man ever used the word "ladies" not followed by the word "room"?