Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

Politeness is half good manners and half good lying.

Politeness is only one half good manners and the other half good lying.

Not all lies are harmful. Sometimes we're willing participants in deception for the sake of social dignity, maybe to keep a secret that should be kept secret, secret. We say, 'Nice song.' 'Honey, you don't look fat in that, no.'

There are occasions on which all apology is rudeness.

Manners are a way of getting what you want without appearing to be an absolute swine.

You learn, just as you learn good manners, how to approach things with a certain amount of diplomacy.

The English are polite by telling lies. The Americans are polite by telling the truth.

Discretion is the polite word for hypocrisy.

It is tact that is golden, not silence.

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

Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.

Diplomacy is more than saying or doing the right things at the right time, it is avoiding saying or doing the wrong things at any time.

Tact: to lie about others as you would have them lie about you.

Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy.

You'd make a great Secretary of State because State Department personnel don't answer questions completely either.

If you make a promise, the thing is still uncertain and depends on a future day .. but if you refuse, you alienate people to a certainty and immediately.

Manners are the lubricating oil of an organization. It is a law of nature that two moving bodies in contact with each other create friction. This is as true for human beings as it is for inanimate objects.

In politics, you must learn to say 'no' without offending people. That is an art that one must master: to satisfy a person even when you have to say 'no' to him.

We don't have to be rude with each other; we have to be diplomatic.

Politeness is sometimes a great tax upon sincerity.

I don't know how to talk. Oh! talk to every woman as if you loved her, and to every man as if he bored you, and at the end of your first season you will have the reputation of possessing the most perfect social tact.

Difficulties melt away under tact.

Never argue. In society nothing must be; give only results. If any person differs from you, bow, and turn the conversation.

Politeness is better than logic. You can often persuade when you cannot convince.

Tact is the ability to make a person see lightning without letting him feel the bolt.