Quotes About Manners

You can get through life with bad manners, but it's easier with good manners.

She was the type who could not take a compliment. If he told her she looked nice, she'd give the reason instead of saying thank you. But he was the type who could not give a compliment, so he just said hello and let her in.

Society can exist only on the basis that there is some amount of polished lying and that no one says exactly what he thinks.

There is no hint too broad for a woman of little tact.

Hence he did not confuse manners with morals.

Manhandeling a lady was asking for trouble pretty much anywhere, but square in the middle of cowboy-central, it was close to suicidal.

The plumber plodded along in silence, like a man who has learned to be polite to lunatics through dealing with civil engineers.

One should not chug an entire glass of wine at an elegant dinner party. I start hacking and coughing, having practically water-boarded myself out of sheer humiliation.

Justin tugged at Phoebe's sleeve. "Mama, if I must have a governess, I want a pretty one." Another snort from the nursemaid. "They start early, don't they?" she remarked in an aside. "In my family, they do," Phoebe replied ruefully.

What do ladies wear beneath their riding trousers?" "I would think an infamous rake would already know." "I was never infamous. In fact, I'm fairly standard as far as rakes go." "The ones who deny it are the worst.

Say as little as possible," Lady Berwick told the girls severely. "Remember that silence is golden." Glancing at Pandora, she added, in your case, it's platinum.

Courtesy is only a thin veneer on the general selfishness.

There's a certain time that when somebody asks you a question, you answer them. I don't think I said anything with venom. If you can express yourself without anger and make it as palatable as you can, that's what you do.

I loathe hecklers. I haven't got a good syllable to say. When you come out of the club circuit and into the concert hall, they should be gone. There's an element of manners that should tell you that the ticket is dear and it's a different venue.

And in any case, it was embarrassing, something you didn't really want to see, like watching somebody clean their nostrils with a fingertip. I cleared my throat as I came in to my chair, but he didn't look up.

Special Agent Recht looked at me, then stared across the room to where Deborah was talking to the captain. "What a family," she said, and walked past me to rejoin her generic-looking partner. I thought of several very good comebacks that would have put her neatly in her place, but after all, her place was actually several rungs above mine on the food chain, so I just called out, "Have a nice day," to her back and headed out the door to my car.

Jackie smiled graciously and did her part, the noblesse oblige she had talked about. I almost wished she'd been rude to them, since I had to hold the elevator door open for a long minute while she signed one of the briefcases with a Magic Marker. There were distant chimes, indicating that somebody else wanted the elevator, and the door kept thumping me as it tried to close and answer the call.

Really, it seemed a bit much—I mean, persistence can be a good thing, and in her professional life it has always been a positive virtue. But in this case, it seemed very close to presumptuous and perhaps even annoying. After

She will open the conversation with a subject of her choice, to which you can respond appropriately. It is not considered courteous for you to ask her any questions, and you should address her as ma'am, which rhymes with jam, not harm.

Luce put his hand on the small of my back. Men have an annoying way of doing that. They touch your back as though there's a handle there, and direct you where they want you to go.

When did the cell phone become a license to be rude? And why must I be subjected to your personal conversations?

If I had a family crest, it would read Please Don't Make Me Be an Asshole.

What is it about people casually eating apples that's so infuriating? There's nothing inherently aggravating about someone eating grapes or an orange, but an apple?

A handwritten letter is a treat for me now—quaint!—and you couldn't pay me to pick up your phone call. God help you if you leave a voice mail.