Elizabeth Hardwick Quotes

None but an ass pays a compliment and asks a favour at the same time. There are many asses.

How sweet and gracious, even in common speech, Is that fine sense which men call Courtesy! Wholesome as air and genial as the light, Welcome in every clime as breath of flowers, It transmutes aliens into trusting friends, And gives its owner passport round the globe.

People give out compliments because it's polite.

it is bad manners to contradict a guest. You must never insult people in your own house - always go to theirs.

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.

In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue.

Good manners sometimes means simply putting up with other people's bad manners.

Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.

I have a respect for manners as such, they are a way of dealing with people you don't agree with or like.

Nothing is so great an example of bad manners as flattery. If you flatter all the company, you please none; If you flatter only one or two, you offend the rest.

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age.

I think if you've been invited to someone's house, you eat what they serve you. Even if you leave hungry, you be gracious enough to eat what they've prepared.

Nothing costs less nor is cheaper than compliments of civility.

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.

True politeness is consideration for the opinions of others. It has been said of dogmatism that it is only puppyism come to its full growth; and certainly the worst form this quality can assume is that of opinionativeness and arrogance.

Politeness is the result of good sense and good nature.

To dismiss a guest is a more ungracious act than not to admit him at all.

Being polite is not only the right way to respond to people but also the easiest. Life is so filled with unavoidable conflict that I see no reason to promote more confrontations.

It is always safe to tell people that they're looking wonderful.

I believe in courtesy, the ritual by which we avoid hurting other people's feelings by satisfying our own egos.

A gentleman does not appear to know more or to be more than those with whom he is thrown into company.

Politeness is deception in pretty packaging.

There's nothing wrong with most men's egos that the kowtowing of a headwaiter can't cure.

It is not enough to be wrong, one must also be polite.