Lyle Lovett Quotes

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.

Girls really like for doors to be opened for them. Guys should really remember that.

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

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

Gentlemen don't do that.

Except in streetcars one should never be unnecessarily rude to a lady.

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

Courtesy is a lady's armor.

The more you act like a lady, the more he'll act like a gentleman.

I think I tend to try to let a woman walk through a door first, and I walk on the outside on the street. But that's probably because I'm an ancient creature.

In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue.

In life, if you have an enthusiasm for what they call 'good manners,' sometimes people don't quite believe you. I've had that once or twice before, where they assume you can't be for real.

Etiquette is all human social behavior. If you're a hermit on a mountain, you don't have to worry about etiquette; if somebody comes up the mountain, then you've got a problem. It matters because we want to live in reasonably harmonious communities.

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.

A hat should be taken off when you greet a lady and left off for the rest of your life. Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.

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

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

What used to be called 'good manners' is now regarded as mere affectation. Open a door for a young woman, and she's likely to call security.

The test of good manners is to be able to put up pleasantly with bad ones.

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?'

Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split.

If a man holds a door open for me or pulls back a chair so that this old bag can sit down, I'm delighted.

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

The underlying principles of manners- respect, fairness, and congeniality.