Theophile Gautier Quotes

Manners form the great charm of women.

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

We often laughed at others in our house, and I picked up the craft of being polite while people were present and laughing later if there was anything to laugh about.

Now, it is well known, that a man may with more impunity be guilty of an actual breach either of real good breeding or of good morals, than appear ignorant of the most minute point of fashionable etiquette.

Common courtesy dictates that we never drain the lifeblood of anyone to whom we've been formally introduced.

such is the effect of true politeness, that it banishes all restraint and embarassment.

Whoever makes the fewest persons uneasy, is the best bred man in company.

The more sensible a woman is, supposing her not to be masculine, the more attractive she is in her proportionate power to entertain.

The knowledge of courtesy and good manners is a very necessary study. It is like grace and beauty, that which begets liking and an inclination to love one another at the first sight.

You can deny all you want that there is etiquette, and a lot of people do in everyday life. But if you behave in a way that offends the people you're trying to deal with, they will stop dealing with you...There are plenty of people who say, 'We don't care about etiquette, but we can't stand the way so-and-so behaves, and we don't want him around!' Etiquette doesn't have the great sanctions that the law has. But the main sanction we do have is in not dealing with these people and isolating them because their behavior is unbearable.

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.

Allowing an unimportant mistake to pass without a comment is a wonderful social grace ... Children who have the habit of constantly correcting should be stopped before they grow up to drive spouses and everyone else crazy by interrupting stories to say, 'No, dear -- it was Tuesday, not Wednesday.

Mr Beach was too well bred to be inquisitive, but his eyebrows here not. 'Ah!' he said. '?', cried the eyebrows. '? ? ?' Ashe ignored the eyebrows. ... Mr Beach's eyebrows were still mutely urging him to reveal all, but Ashe directed his gaze at that portion of the room which Mr Beach did not fill. He was hanged if he was going to let himself be hypnotized by a pair of eyebrows into incriminating himself.

A lot of our lives are about being polite.

I am put on my best behavior, which means the same thing as the most uncomfortable behavior.

To be an agreeable guest one need only enjoy oneself.

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.

don't be angry with the gentleman for thinking, whatever be the cause, for I assure you he makes no common practice of offending in that way.

My father always used to say ‘treat everyone as a gentleman; not because they are, but because you are.’

Manners make often fortunes.

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.

Howard and Shirley were clothed, always, in an invisible layer of decorum that they never laid aside.

You can fake your way to the table, but ultimately you have to learn how to eat.

A man of no conversation should smoke.

Be not forward, but friendly and courteous; the first to salute, hear and answer; and be not pensive when it is time to converse.