George Eliot Quotes

Your Majesty may rest assured about my conduct towards the Comtesse de Provence; I will certainly try and gain her friendship and confidence, without going too far.

I learned how to deal with people with elegance from Patrick Swayze.

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

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

You think that the heads of state only have serious conversations, but they actually often begin really with the weather or, 'I really like your tie.'

It is impossible to practice parliamentary politics without having patience, decency, politeness and courtesy.

I never let my politics supersede my manners.

Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest things in the nicest way.

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

People in France are very intrusive when they recognize you. In New York, they are very polite, with quick words, so it's great.

I have been in meetings where a head of state will say, 'I like your tie,' to a man... or, 'I like your country because the weather's good,' or whatever. So for me, the pins in some ways were openers.

Prithee don't screw your wit beyond the compass of good manners.

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.

There is a time to provide advice and offer an opinion, and there is a time not to. Don't be too quick to offer unsolicited advice. It certainly will not endear you to people.

I shake hands very gladly politically. I don't think you could be a politician if you didn't shake hands.

Minimum information given with maximum politeness.

Just because you can say things that are uncivil does not mean that your should say things that are uncivil.

White lies keep social dignity intact and are far more prevalent than most people realize. Several studies have found that an average person is lied to from 10 to 200 times a day - mostly just to keep a conversation going, to avoid conflict, or to establish a connection with someone.

If you have a guy over, and there's a whole bunch of china from your wedding, it's not a good idea.

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.

I don't wish to embarrass anyone.

Never speak of a man in his own presence. It is always indelicate, and may be offensive .

Indiscretion has always seemed to me to be one of the privileges of tact.

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

When politeness is used to show up other people, it is reclassified as rudeness. Thus it is technically impossible to be too polite.