Christian Nestell Bovee Quotes

It is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy. May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are they the result of previous study?

Discretion is the polite word for hypocrisy.

I have often seen people uncivil by too much civility, and tiresome in their courtesy.

Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy.

As a matter of fact we both are [being offensive]; and the only difference between us is that I am trying to be, and you can't help it.

The days and weeks of screwed-up smiles and laboured courtesy, the mock geniality, the hearty shake of the filthy hand, the chuckling reply that must be made to the coarse joke, the loathsome, choking compliment that must be paid to the grimy wife and sluttish daughter, the indispensable flattery of the vilest religious prejudices, the wholesale deglutition of hypocritical pledges.

Politeness is sometimes a great tax upon sincerity.

Architecture, like dress, is an exercise in good manners, and good manners involve the habit of skillful insincerity - the habit of saying "good morning" to those whose mornings you would rather blight, and of passing the butter to those you would rather starve.

I find it very eerie when somebody is being really polite.

Nine times out of 10, the most charming thing to say in any given situation will be the exact opposite of what one really feels.

Politeness is deception in pretty packaging.

When politeness is used to show up other people, it is reclassified as rudeness. Thus it is technically impossible to be too polite.

Don’t you bully me with your politeness!

He was the soul of politeness to everyone -- to some with a hint of aversion, to others with a hint of respect.

Courtesy is fine and heaven knows we need more and more of it in a rude and frenetic world, but mechanized courtesy is as pallid as Pablum ... in fact, it isn't even courtesy.

No deceit is so veiled as that which lies concealed behind the semblance of courtesy.

His cold politeness, his ceremonious grace, were worse than anything.

Politeness is fictitious benevolence.

That roguish and cheerful vice, politeness.

That politeness which we put on, in order to keep the assuming and the presumptuous at a proper distance will generally succeed. But it sometimes happens that these obtrusive characters are on such excellent terms with themselves that they put down this very politeness to the score of their own great merits and high pretensions, meeting the coldness of our reserve with a ridiculous condescension of familiarity, in order to set us at ease with ourselves.

Politeness is fictitious benevolence. Depend upon it, the want of it never fails to produce something disagreeable to one or other.

Ladies first." "Why is it men only say that when it's something horrible or dangerous?

Fastidiousness is the envelope of indelicacy.

Rudeness is better than any argument; it totally eclipses intellect.