Quotes About Manners

He shut his mouth again and assumed a supercilious expression; this he wore for the remainder of the night, as if he regularly attended houses where young ladies were raised from the dead and considered this particular example to have been, upon the whole, a rather dull affair.

Mr Norrell was very well pleased. Lord Liverpool was exactly the sort of guest he liked – one who admired the books but shewed no inclination to take them down from the shelves and read them.

In familiar surroundings our manners are cheerful and easy, but only transport us to places where we know no one and no one knows us, and Lord! how uncomfortable we become!

Mr. Lascelles whispered to Mr. Drawlight that he had not realized before that doing kind actions would lead to his being addressed in familiar terms by so many low people - it was most unpleasant - he would take care to do no more.

The forms of manners which should be scrupulously observed are, invariably, those which contribute to the comfort, or dignity of others.

Any references to pregnancy or childbirth are coarse, and should be carefully side-stepped by the truly well-bred, as should intrusive comments on love-affairs.

I'm a plain man, I am; no nonsense about me.' And no manners, grace, or generosity, either.

One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone is to beat him at politeness.

Someone in Dr. Morse's childhood must've told him that the polite thing to do to get by in the world (in his world) was to memorize one fact and one fact only about each of your colleague's family members, so that when you met that colleague, or met their family members, you could, by mentioning this fact, appear solicitous and engaged.

He shrugged off his finely tailored coat and handed it to a footman. Joanna shot a sharp look at several ladies who had the effrontery to sigh while staring at him. They looked like ravenous bitches. As in dogs, of course, never would she even think the impolite meaning of that term. Perhaps there was something to Royce's fox hunting allusion after all.

You're going to burn in a very special level of hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.

No young woman of good breeding should show exclusive partiality to one partner all night.

And now over there is a gentleman who should not wear tight pantaloons. You will see when he turns around. There. That is why.

Miss Manners' meager arsenal consists only of the withering look, the insistent and repeated request, the cold voice, the report up the chain of command and the tilted nose. They generally work.

One can become quite proficient at this amiable patter; the trick is to omit the instructive parts when attending formal dinner parties outside the house. It would be a mistake for Miss Manners to provide you with a list of no-no's. It may never have occurred to your children to laugh with a mouthful of soup, for instance, or to discharge unappreciated salad ingredients into the napkin. Here, instead, are a few yes-yes's: Small

However, if you accept the actual invitation, no other appointment—unless with a surgeon or an undertaker—can take precedence.

Making Others Feel Comfortable. Miss

As if etiquette weren't magnificently capable of being used to make others feel uncomfortable. All right. Miss Manners will give you an example, although you are spoiling her Queen Victoria mood: If you are rude to your ex-husband's new wife at your daughter's wedding, you will make her feel smug. Comfortable. If you are charming and polite, you will make her feel uncomfortable. Which do you want to do? On

Miss Manners hereby absolves everyone from feeling any embarrassment deliberately imposed by others.

It is a general rule to err on the side of formality rather than of intimacy.

Miss Manners has always believed that people who do not acknowledge presents are annoyed at receiving them, and she respects that preference.

Anyone who could remember the heyday of the cocktail party probably doesn't.

As dear Erasmus said, "It is part of the highest civility if, while never erring yourself, you ignore the errors of others." Besides, it is a law of nature that he who corrects others will soon do something perfectly awful himself. On

Miss Manners' attitude is that it is better to bar the door to unwanted guests than to back them out through it.