Sarah Addison Allen Quotes

In London, people don't make eye contact; it's almost too provocative.

Eye contact was a delicate matter. A quarter second of a shared glance was a violation of agreements that made the city operational.

A bit of body contact never hurt anyone.

People who stare deserve the looks they get.

Why is it that one can look at a lion or a planet or an owl or at someone's finger as long as one pleases, but looking into the eyes of another person is, if prolonged past a second, a perilous affair?

In the traditional dances, physical contact was permitted in a way that it wasn't in everyday life. The electricity of physical contact has gone therefore from young people's lives.

You've probably noticed how when someone says hello or smiles at you, your automatic reaction is to say hello or smile back.

American life is based on a reassurance that we like one another but won't violate one another's privacies. This makes it a land of small talk.

I don't mind it. My friends think it's kind of rude of the people to come up to me and treat me like an object.

When you are on the street, if someone walks towards you it's better to look down. But we were always looking at people in the eye to try to provoke something.

The thing is, I'm used to handshakes. Every time someone comes for a hug, I'm very confused. I'm told that I give out the worst hugs, too.

The movements of the eyes express the perpetual and unconscious courtesy of the parties.

Never looking anyone in the eye when you're traveling on public transport, in case it's interpreted as a sign that you're trying to get off with them.

I like to wear a "Do Not Disturb" sign around my neck so that little kids can't tell me knock-knock jokes. "Hey, how ya doin'? Knock-knock." "Read the sign, punk!"

The man who thrusts his manners upon me does as if he were to insist on introducing me to his cabinet of curiosities, when I wished to see himself.

You have to realise that touching is a real violation of personal space.

There's not much I dislike more than being addressed as "Hey you" and being poked with a finger.

You know, almost everyone is an irritant to me. I think people have forgotten what the word 'public' means. 'Public' means you're going to be irritated. It's a natural consequence of leaving one's home. You go outside, and there are people who are irritating. I'll be standing on the sidewalk, and someone berates me for smoking. I look at the person and think, but what about your shoes? How can you wear shoes like that and have the confidence to accost someone like me?

I had to smile at the man. I mean, you have to smile at idiots and children.

I'm not extra sensitive to handshakes. I shake hands all the time.

I shift from one foot to the other, trying to get a good look at him. When I finally do, I look away. His eyes were already on me, probably drawn by my nervous movement.

To avoid eye contact, kiss.

Wave the flag, wave the Bible, wave your sex or your business degree, whatever you want, just don't wave that thing at me.

The worst of having so much tact was that you never quite knew whether other people were acting naturally or being tactful too. [The human element]

There is no society or conversation to be kept up in the world without good-nature, or something which must bear its appearance and supply its place. For this reason mankind have been forced to invent a kind of artificial humanity, which is what we express by the word Good-Breeding.