Rachel Kushner Quotes

You think that the heads of state only have serious conversations, but they actually often begin really with the weather or, 'I really like your tie.'

Whenever anyone asks me if I'm from a TV show, I say yes - no matter whether I've ever been on it. It just makes the conversation that much easier.

That's all small talk is - a quick way to connect on a human level - which is why it is by no means as irrelevant as the people who are bad at it insist. In short, it's worth making the effort.

You get on an elevator with someone, you say hi to them, you speak to them. You give respect. That's just how I've always been.

When good friends praise a gifted person he often appears to be delighted with them out of politeness and goodwill, but in reality he feels indifferent.

No 'Good evening, Jean-Claude, how are you doing?' Just down to business. How terribly rude,ma petite ." - Jean-Claude

So. How was your week?

If people ask me, I always tell them: "Quite well, thank you, I'm very glad to say." If people ask me, I always answer, "Quite well, thank you, how are you today?" I always answer, I always tell them, If they ask me Politely... BUT SOMETIMES I wish That they wouldn't

Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in.

It's my custom to say something flattering to begin with so I shall be excused if I put my foot in it later on.

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.

When two Eglishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.

I give boring people something to discuss over corn.

This laudable quality is commonly known by the name of Manners and Good-breeding, and consists in a Fashionable Habit, acquir'd by Precept and Example, of flattering the Pride and Selfishness of others, and concealing our own with Judgment and Dexterity.

If we use no ceremony towards others, we shall be treated without any. People are soon tired of paying trifling attentions to those who receive them with coldness, and return them with neglect.

Good?” Cam said. “Right?” I took another bite and nodded. “Well, I have a whole ton of them at home.” He stretched as he rolled up his napkin. “Just saying.

People give out compliments because it's polite.

Yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often. Best to say nothing at all, my dear man.

We are almost always wearied in the company of persons with whom we are not permitted to be weary.

If it were not for quotations, conversations between gentlemen would consist of an endless series of 'what-ho!'s.

Every country has its cocktail-party question. A simple one-sentence query, the answer to which unlocks a motherlode of information about the person you just met.... In Switzerland it is, Where are you from? That is all you need to know about someone.

Americans are incredibly polite as long as they get what they want.

I know Mark,' I reply. 'And I don't like him.' 'But I do. And part of being social means being civil to someone you don't like.' 'That's stupid. It's a huge world. why not just get up and walk away?' 'Because that's rude,' Jess explains. 'I think it's rude to stick a smile on your face and pretend you like talking to someone when in reality you'd rather be sticking bamboo slivers under your fingernails.

Large cocktail parties are an infamous technique for ridding yourself of social obligations to people you usually don't know well or like much, which is such an unpromising beginning that I've rarely known one that recovered and turned into a great party.

There is no policy like politeness; and a good manner is the best thing in the world either to get a good name, or to supply the want of it.