Margaret Mead Quotes

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

The high point of civilization is that you can hate me and I can hate you but we develop an etiquette that allows us to deal with each other because if we acted solely upon our impulse we'd probably go to war.

If someone's being less than courteous to you, I don't think you need to pay any attention to them.

When people talk about political correctness, the only element of any value is good manners.

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.

Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.

The test of good manners is to be patient with the bad ones.

I never let my politics supersede my manners.

I raised my kids kind of old-fashioned - if you don't have something nice to say, then don't say it at all. I teach love, acceptance, and tolerance... I sometimes think that this generation is lacking in decency.

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

Etiquette is all human social behavior. If you're a hermit on a mountain, you don't have to worry about etiquette; if somebody comes up the mountain, then you've got a problem. It matters because we want to live in reasonably harmonious communities.

We must learn that we can disagree with each other without becoming deadly enemies.

Among well-bred people a mutual deference is affected, contempt for others is disguised; authority concealed; attention given to each in his turn; and an easy stream of conversation maintained without vehemence, without interruption, without eagerness for victory, and without any airs of superiority

I think civility is important to getting things done.

Everyone can be rude, and everyone can be kind.

Unfortunately civility is hard to codify or legislate, but you know it when you see it. It's possible to disagree without being disagreeable.

In England, we have such good manners that if someone says something impolite, the police will get involved.

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

The greater the controversy, the more you need manners.

Manners are the hypocrisy of a nation.

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

If you have learned how to disagree without being disagreeable, then you have discovered the secrete of getting along - whether it be business, family relations, or life itself.

Fine manners need the support of fine manners in others.

People don't know how to behave in public anymore.

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.