Manners Quotes

“Don’t ever stray from yourself, in order to be close to someone that doesn’t have the courtesy to remind you of your worth, or the integrity of a gentleman to walk you home.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“A mans manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“She felt so lost and lonely. One last chile in walnut sauce left on the platter after a fancy dinner couldn't feel any worse than she did. How many times had she eaten one of those treats, standing by herself in the kitchen, rather than let it be thrown away. When nobody eats the last chile on the plate, it's usually because none of them wants to look like a glutton, so even though they'd really like to devour it, they don't have the nerve to take it. It was as if they were rejecting that stuffed pepper, which contains every imaginable flavor; sweet as candied citron, juicy as pomegranate, with the bit of pepper and the subtlety of walnuts, that marvelous chile in the walnut sauce. Within it lies the secret of love, but it will never be penetrated, and all because it wouldn't feel proper.”
― Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate

“As a Texan, I say ma'm and sir to my age contemporaries and open doors for anyone that I can. This goes for men, too, though it is appreciated when they beat me to it and disappointing when they don't.”
― Tiffany Madison

“Charming villains have always had a decided social advantage over well-meaning people who chew with their mouths open.
”
― Judith Martin

“Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree.”
― Marian Wright Edelman

“Fashion is neither moral or immoral, but it is for rebuilding the morale.”
― Karl Lagerfeld

“Nowadays, we never allow ourselves the convenience of being temporarily unavailable, even to strangers. With telephone and beeper, people subject themselves to being instantly accessible to everyone at all times, and it is the person who refuses to be on call, rather than the importunate caller, who is considered rude.”
― Judith Martin, Common Courtesy: In Which Miss Manners Solves the Problem That Baffled Mr. Jefferson

“...I'd been raised by my parents to believe barfing your feelings on other people was the height of impoliteness...”
― Stephen King, Joyland

“Manners are the ability to put someone else at their ease...by turning any answer into another question.”
― Tina Brown

“When you know you can do something, and you feel good about yourself, you do not have to devalue others.”
― John Patrick Hickey, Oops! Did I Really Post That

“The humiliation that Jane had felt turned to something else--grief perhaps, or regret. Regret that she had not known how to act with a boy, regret that she had not been wiser.”
― Beverly Cleary, Fifteen

“Good manners are not merely snobbish ornaments, as Mrs. Lippett's regime appeared to believe. They mean self-discipline and thought for others, and my children have got to learn them.”
― Jean Webster, Dear Enemy

“Passion and courtesy are two polar opposite traits that serve to balance each other into a full-blooded whole.

Without socialization, passion is a crude barbarian, and without passion, the elegant and polite are dead.

Allow both passion and courtesy into your life in equal measure, and be complete.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“Anisette! You will eat your food, not demonstrate aerial warfare across the table with it.”
― T. A. Miles, Raventide

“Do not descend, but rise above so ill-mannered a person.”
― Mary Lydon Simonsen, The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy

“You cannot escape that you are a woman,” she began.
“I wish I could,” Firekeeper muttered, but Elise continued as if she hadn’t heard.
“Since you cannot, you cannot escape the expectations that our society and our class places upon women.”
“Why?” Firekeeper said querulously.
“...Consider,” she offered, “what you told me about learning to see at night so that you could hunt with the wolves. Learning to wear a gown, to walk gracefully, to eat politely…”
“I do that!”
“You’re learning,” Elise admitted, “but don’t change the subject. All of these are ways of learning to see in the dark.”
“Maybe,” Firekeeper said, her tone unconvinced.
“Can you climb a tree?”
“Yes.”
“Swim?”
“Yes!” This second affirmative was almost indignant.
“And these skills let you go places that you could not go without them.”
Stubborn silence. Elise pressed her point.
“Why do you like knowing how to shoot a bow?”
“It lets me kill farther,” came the answer, almost in a growl.
“And using a sword does the same?”
“Yes.”
“Let me tell you, Firekeeper, knowing a woman’s arts can keep you alive, let you invade private sanctums, even help you to subdue your enemies. If you don’t know those arts, others who do will always have an advantage over you.”
“All this from wearing a gown that tangles your feet?”
― Jane Lindskold, Through Wolf's Eyes

“Doesn't being over-familiar put you at a disadvantage? A more formal way of speaking doesn't just mean you're being polite, it's also a way of protecting yourself.”
― Mihail Sebastian, For Two Thousand Years

“Nobody believes that the man who says, 'Look, lady, you wanted equality,' to explain why he won't give up his seat to a pregnant woman carrying three grocery bags, a briefcase, and a toddler is seized with the symbolism of idealism.”
― Judith Martin, Common Courtesy: In Which Miss Manners Solves the Problem That Baffled Mr. Jefferson

“He had beautiful manners. Which, if you ask me, was mostly a question of saying nothing, to anyone, ever.”
― Anne Enright, The Gathering

“Could I tell them I was sorry their loved one was dead, when he’d tried to kill me? There was no rule of etiquette for this; even my grandmother would have been stymied.”
― Charlaine Harris, Dead as a Doornail

“Please stop,” I said politely—he was that big. One should always mind one’s manners around big things.”
― Lish McBride, Necromancing the Stone

“It may seem a little obvious that Megan would feel that in her music or that I would feel it in woodworking, but there are so many domestic places, so many little ways that you can make your existence holy in how you choose to treat your loved ones and people in your community.”
― Nick Offerman, The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

“Civility, it is said, means obeying the unenforceable.”
― Ellen Goodman

“Yuppies in embryo, miming their parents' manners. In twenty years, they’d have country houses and children with pretentious literary names and tennis lessons and ugly cars and liaisons with hot young interns. Hurricanes of entitlement, all swirl and noise and destruction, nothing at their centers.”
― Lauren Groff, Fates and Furies

“تحطيم الأصنام هي حرفتي ، ذلك أنّه ما أن ابتُدِعَتْ أكذوبة عالَمِ المُثُل قد تمَّ تجريد الواقع مِن قيمتِهِ ، و مِن معناه ، و مِن حقيقتِهِ”
― فريدريك نيتشه, Ecce Homo

“We have rules One-Ear." The man smiled faintly at Mrs. Francis. "Ladies are not to be hacked apart with swords. It reflects badly on pirates in general and on our outfit in particular.”
― Sean Cullen, Hamish X and the Cheese Pirates

“Wasting talent is a sin. I’m not big on sin, but I know a sin when I see one staring me in the face. I’m not big on sin, but I know a sin when I see one staring me in the face. It’s just not courteous to not use or wear something that somebody’s given you as a well-meaning gift. It goes against Southern ways, not that God is Southern by any stretch of the imagination, but I do think He expects us to be an example for the rest of the country, as far as manners go.”
― Vicki Covington, Bird of Paradise

“Vijaya prefers to eat alone. Rob ushered her into the room and held a chair for her, then sat across from her. "Many Indians regard eating as something that should be done in private. Considering the table manners of some of our best people, one can see their point."

Patricia Frances Rowell”
― Patricia Frances Rowell

“أنا ، مثلًا ، لستُ فزّاعةً على الإطلاق ، و لا أنا غولٌ أخلاقيّ ، بل إنّني من طبيعة البشر الذين ظلّ الناس إلى حدّ الآن يقدِّسونهم كأمثلةٍ للفضيلة”
― فريدريك نيتشه, Ecce Homo