Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split.
Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners.
An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.
Manners, really good ones, make it possible to live with almost anyone, gracefully and pleasantly.
The ruin of a State is generally preceded by an universal degeneracy of manners and contempt of religion.
Our cautious ancestors, when yawning, blocked the way to the entrance of evil spirits by putting their hands before their mouths. We find a reason for the gesture in the delicacy of manner which forbids an indecent exposure.
Courtesy, like grace and beauty, that which begets liking and inclination to love one another at the first sight, and in the very beginning of our acquaintance and familiarity; and, consequently, that which first opens the door for us to better ourselves by the example of others, if there be anything in the society worth notice
The Manners of Women, are the surest Criterion by which to determine whether a Republican Government is practicable in a Nation or not.
Children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every effort to teach them good manners.
About this business of being a gentleman: I paid so heavily for the fourteen years of my gentleman's education that I feel entitled, now and then, to get some sort of return.
You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose.
To be humble to superiors is duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.
A gentleman is any man who wouldn't hit a woman with his hat on.
The insolent civility of a proud man is, if possible, more shocking than his rudeness could be; because he shows you, by his manner, that he thinks it mere condescension in him; and that his goodness alone bestows upon you what you have no pretense to claim.
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.
The people of Northern Italy are the most civilized people I have ever met.
I would not have had that happen to you. Discourtesy is unspeakably ugly to me.
The pocket square, properly contrived, finishes a man's look. With good tailoring and well chosen neckwear, the look connotes power, taste, refinement, manners. The naked pocket connotes the opposite: working class, tasteless, base, crude, ignorant.
Good manners can render even virtue tolerable.
don't be angry with the gentleman for thinking, whatever be the cause, for I assure you he makes no common practice of offending in that way.
To Americans, English manners are far more frightening than none at all.
A youth, when at home, should be filial and, abroad, respectful to his elders. He should be earnest and truthful. He should overflow in love to all and cultivate the friendship of the good. When he has time and opportunity, after the performance of these things, he should employ them in polite studies.
That roguish and cheerful vice, politeness.
Here is a diversity of religions, educations, manners, interest, such as it would seem almost impossible to unite in one plan of conduct.
Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest things in the nicest way.
