Quotations about Manners

Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter which fork you use. ~Emily Post


Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax. ~Arthur Schopenhauer


To disagree, one doesn't have to be disagreeable. ~Barry M. Goldwater and Jack Casserly, Goldwater


Good manners are just a way of showing other people that we have respect for them. ~Bill Kelly


Politeness is the art of choosing among one's real thoughts. ~Abel Stevens


Hospitality is making your guests feel at home, even if you wish they were. ~Author Unknown


The test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones. ~Gabirol (Solomon ben Yehuda ibn Gabirol), The Choice of Pearls


Learn young about hard work and manners - and you'll be through the whole dirty mess and nicely dead again before you know it. ~F. Scott Fitzgerald


Whoever one is, and wherever one is, one is always in the wrong if one is rude. ~Maurice Baring


I don't think you want too much sincerity in society. It would be like an iron girder in a house of cards. ~W. Somerset Maugham


Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


Good manners: The noise you don't make when you're eating soup. ~Bennett Cerf


A man that should call everything by its right name would hardly pass the streets without being knocked down as a common enemy. ~Lord Halifax


There can be no defence like elaborate courtesy. ~E.V. Lucas


Visitors should behave in such a way that the host and hostess feel at home. ~J.S. Farynski


Outcomes rarely turn on grand gestures or the art of the deal, but on whether you've sent someone a thank-you note. ~Bernie Brillstein, The Little Stuff Matters Most


Many who would not take the last cookie would take the last lifeboat. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960


People count up the faults of those who keep them waiting. ~French Proverb


Politeness, n. The most acceptable hypocrisy. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911


Life be not so short but that there is always time for courtesy. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength. ~Eric Hoffer


Says the rude child: "No, I won't do it." Says the courteous grown-up: "Yes, I won't do it." ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960


Good manners can replace morals. It may be years before anyone knows if what you are doing is right. But if what you are doing is nice, it will be immediately evident. ~P.J. O'Rourke


Perfect behavior is born of complete indifference. ~Cesare Pavese, This Business of Living: Diaries


Treat people as you would like to be treated. Karma's only a bitch if you are. ~Author Unknown


It's not a slam at you when people are rude - it's a slam at the people they've met before. ~F. Scott Fitzgerald


Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice, but because you are. ~Author Unknown


Is man a savage at heart, skinned o'er with fragile Manners? Or is savagery but a faint taint in the natural man's gentility, which erupts now and again like pimples on an angel's arse? ~John Barth, The Sot-Weed Factor, 1960


Children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every effort to teach them good manners. ~Author Unknown