Steve Allen Quotes

To Americans, English manners are far more frightening than none at all.

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

In England, we have such good manners that if someone says something impolite, the police will get involved.

Manners are the hypocrisy of a nation.

I find it upsetting to see the erosion of manners. It's very scary. Where are the 'pleases' and 'thank yous?'

People don't know how to behave in public anymore.

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

Etiquette means behaving yourself a little better than is absolutely essential.

There's no chivalry in culture any more. Sometimes you meet someone who everyone says is polite and you're like, 'Wow,' but then it's like, 'Hang on, isn't everyone supposed to be polite?'

Doubleday is used to my talking about manners because I am, after all, known for that, and that's my persona.

Good manners reflect something from inside-an innate sense of consideration for others and respect for self.

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.

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.

Manners are of such great consequence to the novelist that any kind will do. Bad manners are better than no manners at all, and because we are losing our customary manners, we are probably overly conscious of them; this seems to be a condition that produces writers.

Prithee don't screw your wit beyond the compass of good manners.

Grownups have to say 'please,' too.

Nothing is less important than which fork you use. Etiquette is the science of living. It embraces everything. It is ethics. It is honor.

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

I'm a gentleman, if nothing else. It's taken me years to become one, but finally I have a sense of propriety.

Manners are love in a cool climate.

You can get through life with bad manners, but it's easier with good manners.

When people talk about political correctness, the only element of any value is good manners.

I am a gentleman. My natural inclination is to be on my best behavior.

Let's not confuse traditional behaviours with good manners. The definition of etiquette is gender neutral - it simply means we strive at all times to ensure a person in our company feels at ease.

Formalized rules of manners were so great because they left no room for basic human haplessness. They allowed us to circumvent our natural boorish tendency to disregard the feelings of others.