Quotes About Etiquette

A mans manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.

Keep your private life private. Be open to suggestions from different people. And just be nice. I have heard stories about people who are just plain rude to the press or fans.

If you must commit suicide ... always contrive to do it as decorously as possible; the decencies, whether of life or of death, should never be lost sight of.

The small courtesies sweeten life; the greater ennoble it.

What torture, this life in society! Often someone is obliging enough to offer me a light, and in order to oblige him I have to fish a cigarette out of my pocket.

A hat should be taken off when you greet a lady and left off for the rest of your life. Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.

the delicacy that respects a friend's silence is one of the charms of life.

"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all," was how I was raised, and how I lived for most of my life.

Society is like a large piece of frozen water; and skating well is the great art of social life.

Good manners are the settled medium of social, as specie is of commercial, life; returns are equally expected for both.

Like life and people, it is full of paradoxes. Etiquette is based on tradition, and yet it can change. Its ramifications are trivialities, but its roots are in great principles.

Outer space is no place for a person of breeding.

I try to preserve whatever balance society has between public and personal life. I never try to eat on the subway. I never try to listen to loud music on the subway.

Since the average person's small supply of politeness must last him all his life, he can't afford to waste it on bridge partners.

There are more 'Don'ts' in golf than there are in any other avocation in life.

I am sorry I have not learnt to play at cards. It is very useful in life: it generates kindness, and consolidates society.

The white realtor lady asks if I'm adopted—like that's some legitimate, socially appropriate question to ask—and is halfway through a gushy story about her friend's new baby from Korea when I say, "Haven't you ever heard of interracial marriage? It's all the rage in civilized countries," and she shuts up and purses her lips.

There can be no defence like elaborate courtesy.

I believe in courtesy. It is the way we avoid hurting people's feelings. She thought that maybe, just maybe, western civilization was in decline because people did not take time to take tea at four o'clock.

Never have a long conversation with anyone who says "between you and I.

While her lips talked culture, her heart was planning to invite him to tea

She strove in vain against the echoing walls of their civility.

You could call your cousin a shit if you liked, but not an eunuch. Rotten style!

You are not to say 'stink,' " interrupted Helen; "at least, you may say it, but you must pretend you are being funny while you say it.