John Irving Quotes

I think the thing I miss most in our age is our manners. It sounds so old-fashioned in a way. But even bad people had good manners in the old days, and manners hold a community together, and manners hold a family together; in a way, they hold the world together.

I don't accept bad manners, so all my grandchildren are very well behaved, just like my kids.

The sign of a person who has had an education is good manners.

That bad manners are so prevalent in the world is the fault of good manners.

I respect the social graces enormously. How to pass the food. Don't yell from one room to another. Don't go through a closed door without a knock. Open the doors for the ladies. All these millions of simple household behaviors make for a better life. We can't live in constant rebellion against our parents - it's just silly. I'm very well mannered. It's not an abstract thing. It's a shared language of expectations.

There is no policy like politeness; and a good manner is the best thing in the world either to get a good name, or to supply the want of it.

Good manners are the settled medium of social, as specie is of commercial, life; returns are equally expected for both.

In life, if you have an enthusiasm for what they call 'good manners,' sometimes people don't quite believe you. I've had that once or twice before, where they assume you can't be for real.

For me, politeness is a sine qua non of civilization.

As youngsters, my mother taught her children that while we might not be the smartest people around, we could be courteous, polite and considerate of others.

You can't be truly rude until you understand good manners.

The Japanese have perfected good manners and made them indistinguishable from rudeness.

Sometimes I pine for the era of Miss Manners, when there were hard and fast rules dictating a well-bred individual's behaviour in any given situation.

One of the few things I like about Bill Clinton is that he has very good manners. If his momma were still alive, I would congratulate her.

My parents always taught me not to be a good tennis player or the best in what I'm doing, but to be polite.

There's a civility that has always been a part of me.

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

Politeness is the chief sign of culture.

Good manners are a sign of strength.

Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices.

Good manners, to those one does not love, are no more a breach of truth, than "your humble servant," at the bottom of a challengeis; they are universally agreed upon, and understand to be things of course. They are necessary guards of the decency and peace of society.

Civility is a desire to receive civilities, and to be accounted well-bred.

Good manners require space and time.

Good manners are the techniques of expressing consideration for the feelings of others.

Good manners disappear in proportion as the influence of a Court and an exclusive aristocracy lessens; this decrease can be plainly observed from decade to decade by those who have an eye for public behavior, which grows visibly.