Quotes About Propriety

the ladies of N. were pre-eminently careful and refined in their choice of words and phrases. Never did a lady say, "I blew my nose," or "I perspired," or "I spat." No, it had to be, "I relieved my nose through the expedient of wiping it with my handkerchief," and so forth.

It is perfectly easy to be original by violating the laws of decency and the canons of good taste.

Stay far hence, far hence, you prudes!

Our gentlemen visitors ain't allowed no more than a smile and a squeeze in the public rooms, for I won't 'ave Sodom and Gomorrah under my roof. I always tell my girls, I tell them, 'Ladies, just show the boys enough to give them a proper 'int of what they're in for. And close your door be'ind you when you're entertaining, for a gentleman is easily embarrassed.

Don't lick the guests, darling. Bad manners.

Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defence Where is the difference between having our arms in our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress If our defence be therealobject of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands

Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?

Just because I tread heavily on propriety's toes doesn't mean I can't play the game when it's of use to me.

Asking to hold a musician's instrument is roughly similar to asking to kiss a man's wife.

Deferential, but not obsequious. Just because I tread heavily on propriety's toes doesn't mean I can't play the game when it's of use to me.

I'm not particularly religious, but I do have a vestigial sense of propriety. And

comport yourself with more decorum in the future.

Madam, I assure you that you are dealing with two gentleman of the highest propriety and social standing. When one contemplates the deeds that are daily done in society's name, such a description is no high recommendation.

I smiled ruefully to myself, knowing I had already experienced a far greater and deeper union with this man than that which propriety was so busy guarding against. I had seen and accepted our fate here, tonight, on the crest of this ancient hill, and all other ceremonies would be just that: rituals to please the people and make public the commitment that had been made in the privacy of my own heart.

When a society pretends to even a shred of civility — and in the bourgeois century, most societies did — it is hard to predict just where or when oppositional humor will overstep the bounds of propriety or of the law.