Isaac D'Israeli Quotes

The more elegance the less virtue in all times and countries.

Modesty forbids what the law does not.

Genteel women suppose that those things do not really exist about which it is impossible to talk in polite company.

Every man has his moral backside which he refrains from showing unless he has to and keeps covered as long as possible with the trousers of decorum.

A gentleman never talks about his tailor.

My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language.

Those expressions are omitted which can not with propriety be read aloud in the family.

He combines the manners of a Marquis with the morals of a Methodist.

I do like the idea of women not showing too much, of them being quite reserved in a way, and quite covered.

Simplicity is a great element of good breeding.

Elegance is usually confused with superficiality, fashion, lack of depth. This is a serious mistake: human beings need to have elegance in their actions and in their posture because this word is synonymous with good taste, amiability, equilibrium and harmony.

[Benjamin Franklin's life was:] ... one continued insult to good manners and decency.

I'm big on what's in good taste.

There is a fine line between sensuousness and vulgarity. I will not cross that line.

In the contemporary world, we think of politeness as surface behavior, like frosting - it's sweet and attractive and finishes off the cake. But 19th century nobility and the enlightened thinkers and stoics before them viewed manners in a very different way. To them, manners are an outward expression of an inward struggle.

Observe decorum, and it will open a path to morality.

My mother had all these maxims - like, classy girls never chew gum, never read comic books, never get their ears pierced, never get their hair dyed.

Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety.

I have no concept of modesty anymore.

I've managed to keep my clothes on for everything I've done so far.

I'm a gentleman, if nothing else. It's taken me years to become one, but finally I have a sense of propriety.

I hate the irreverent rabble and keep them far from me.

I was brought up to be a gentleman. That means you know how to walk, talk and dress the part.

Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.

My mother is old-fashioned; she raised us like girls from a 19th-century book. My sisters and I are known for being the most polite girls in France. My mother wanted us to be like royalty: never ever will you be caught being rude, or superficial or being a star or whatever.