Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

Good breeding, a union of kindness and independence.

Good breeding is the result of good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others.

Good breeding consists in having no particular mark of any profession, but a general elegance of manners.

A well-bred carriage is difficult to imitate; for in strictness it is negative, and it implies a long-continued previous training.

True politeness is the spirit of benevolence showing itself in a refined way. It is the expression of good-will and kindness. It promotes both beauty in the man who possesses it, and happiness in those who are about him. It is a religious duty, and should be a part of religious training.

Nothing is more pleasant than to see a pretty woman, her napkin well placed under her arms, one of her hands on the table, while the other carries to her mouth, the choice piece so elegantly carved.

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

Respect goes a long way when you carry yourself a certain way and show manners when you first meet someone. If you do that, then it's hard for somebody not to like you.

Formalized rules of manners were so great because they left no room for basic human haplessness. They allowed us to circumvent our natural boorish tendency to disregard the feelings of others.

The test of good manners is to be able to put up pleasantly with bad ones.

There's no chivalry in culture any more. Sometimes you meet someone who everyone says is polite and you're like, 'Wow,' but then it's like, 'Hang on, isn't everyone supposed to be polite?'

Women of quality are so civil, you can hardly distinguish love from good breeding.

My parents always told me to be respectful to anyone you meet and to live your life that way.

My parents were very strict about manners and being polite to others. I brought my own children up that way, too.

Nothing costs less nor is cheaper than compliments of civility.

Though shyness per se was unacceptable, reserve was a mark of good breeding.

Perhaps the summary of good-breeding may be reduced to this rule. "Behave unto all men as you would they should behave unto you." This will most certainly oblige us to treat all mankind with the utmost civility and respect, there being nothing that we desire more than to be treated so by them.

A fine lady; by which term I wish to express the result of that perfect education in taste and manner, down to every gesture, which heaven forbid that I, professing to be a poet, should undervalue. It is beautiful, and therefore I welcome it in the name of the author of all beauty. I value it so highly that I would fain see it extend not merely from Belgravia to the tradesman's villa, but thence, as I believe it one day will, to the laborer's hovel and the needlewoman's garret.

He who reflects on another man's want of breeding, shows he wants it as much himself

He was so generally civil, that nobody thanked him for it.

Politeness is the result of good sense and good nature.

Many a woman will pass for elegant in a ballroom, or even at a court drawing room, whose want of true breeding would become evident in a chosen company.

Good-breeding shows itself most where to an ordinary eye it appears the least.

Politeness is one of those advantages which we never estimate rightly but by the inconvenience of its loss.

Courtesy is a science of the highest importance. It is...opening a door that we may derive instruction from the example of others, and at the same time enabling us to benefit them by our example, if there be anything in our character worthy of imitation.