Edith Wharton Quotes

I still do find it very difficult in the West to connect to this politeness of smiling, not saying how you're thinking or not saying how you really feel.

My goals in Holland were known as 'stiffies', which means something quite different in England of course.

American culture is so open compared to Korean culture, which is really conservative.

The Japanese are hard to figure out.

The ignorant are afraid to betray surprise or admiration...they think it ill manners.

I've always felt that English women had to be approached in a sisterly manner, rather than an erotic manner.

It's always a unique challenge when you're working with somebody where English is their second language.

The American vice would be sometimes speaking too loudly. You can always hear American people on the trains!

Most of our life is miscommunication, and when you add a language barrier to it, it just becomes total mayhem and confusion... It just adds to it with all of the cultural differences. It could be an American family meeting another American family and you could still have a total clash. With family, it's like visiting another planet.

When you go to that other country you realize that in France and in England, you don't ask somebody what they do for a living when you meet someone. A lot of the obvious things, the shortcuts we take in America - in America you can talk about money all you want. You can ask how much they make, rent they pay, how much their house costs and how much their car costs, and they'll feel comfortable telling you. But it's scandalous to ask anyone in England or France a question like that.

The most embarrassing one is that I had no idea - and please excuse me - that you guys call a condom a rubber. My version of a rubber is an eraser. I've done that - very loudly asked for a rubber and people have given me strange looks. That was embarrassing!

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.

It is against womanhood to be forward in their own wishes.

When strangers meet, great allowance should be made for differences of custom and training.

I wonder if it changes the nature of a society for beauty to be so common. Maybe in Vietnam "She has a wonderful personality" really means something. But I couldnt figure out a polite way to ask.

All women are flirts, but some are restrained by shyness, and others by sense.

When I go to Europe or South America, they laugh at things that are totally different than what Americans would laugh at. It's just so crazy how we're so different in personalities with other people.

Canadians are more polite when they are being rude than Americans are when they are being friendly.

An American has no sense of privacy. He does not know what it means.There is no such thing in the country.

No offense, but if you want to be with my niece, you should think about getting a haircut. My mother is very conservative.” “No offense taken,” John said mildly.

I attributed their behavior to the fact that they didn't have a TV, but television didn't teach you everything. Asking for candy on Halloween was called trick-or-treating, but asking for candy on November first was called begging, and it made people uncomfortable. This was one of the things you were supposed to learn simply by being alive, and it angered me that the Tomkeys did not understand it.

It's not considered polite in Russia to count the money in someone else's pocket.

LADY BRACKNELL: Do you smoke? JACK: Well, yes, I must admit I smoke. LADY BRACKNELL: I'm glad to hear it. A man should always have an occupation of some kind.

I've come from a very masculine country to a feminine country. England was very masculine; people went from England to abroad, and they landed from above and they said "These are the gods you will worship, these are the crops you will grow, now go away and do it." Which is a manly attitude. Americans go abroad and they say, "Try not to quarrel so much", which is a feminine attitude.

I was woefully ignorant in the social graces. I was being raised, after all, by Pellinore Warthrop.