etiquette quotes

Nowadays, manners are easy and life is hard.

The unsaid rule for living in a trailer park is: ‚If the door’s shut, don’t come a-knockin.‘ But if it’s open and you’re walkin‘ by, feel free to say, ‚Hello.‘

Good manners sometimes means simply putting up with other people’s bad manners.

Manners require time, and nothing is more vulgar than haste.

If someone offers you a breath mint, accept it.

Hostesses who entertain much must make up their parties as ministers make up their cabinets, on grounds other than personal liking.

I don’t know why they gave me a knighthood – though it’s very nice of them – but I only ever use the title in the U.S. The Americans insist on it and get offended if I don’t.

Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with a trowel.

Fine manners need the support of fine manners in others.

Talk well of the absent whenever you have the opportunity.

No person who is well bred, kind and modest is ever offensively plain; all real deformity means want for manners or of heart.

A gentleman is never rude except on purpose – I can honestly be nasty sober, believe you me.

One does not leave a convivial party before closing time.

People who eat with their mouth open should be punched in the face.

Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage.

I often look ridiculous in Japan. There’s really no way to eat in Japan, particularly kaiseki in a traditional ryokan, without offending the Japanese horribly. Every gesture, every movement is just so atrociously wrong, and the more I try, the more hilarious it is.

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age.

I hold the door for the ladies – I’m a gent.

If he invited you out, he’s got to pay.

The test of a man or woman’s breeding is how they behave in a quarrel.

The notion that before you even set out to go to Thailand, you say, ‚I’m not interested,‘ or you’re unwilling to try things that people take so personally and are so proud of and so generous with, I don’t understand that, and I think it’s rude. You’re at Grandma’s house, you eat what Grandma serves you.

House guests should be regarded as perishables: Leave them out too long and they go bad.

T stands for being nice. T stands for manners. T stands for being polite.

Never speak to an invalid from behind, nor from the door, nor from any distance from him, nor when he is doing anything. The official politeness of servants in these things is so grateful to invalids, that many prefer, without knowing why, having none but servants about them.

Politeness is, you know, is a wonderful thing. Manners are in fact, really important thing. But remember, Jesus didn’t have many manners as we now know.

If you ever see The Rock working out in the gym, don’t think you can just go up and disturb his workout and expect him to take a picture. He’s there to work, so kindly just pass the silverback on by or he’ll rip your face off.

At a formal dinner party, the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom.

Discretion of speech is more than eloquence, and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words, or in good order.

Becoming a ‚Sir‘ is slightly uncomfortable at first, although it is a considerable honor. It is amazing how quickly you become accustomed to it.

Campaign behavior for wives: Always be on time. Do as little talking as humanly possible. Lean back in the parade car so everybody can see the president.

Although a skillful flatterer is a most delightful companion if you have him all to yourself, his taste becomes very doubtful when he takes to complimenting other people.

Good breeding differs, if at all, from high breeding only as it gracefully remembers the rights of others, rather than gracefully insists on its own rights.

Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are.

If you are ever in doubt as to whether to kiss a pretty girl, always give her the benefit of the doubt.

A man’s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.

Be sincere; be brief; be seated.

Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.

I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.

My mother always told me it wasn’t polite to ask what people make.

One lesson you better learn if you want to be in politics is that you never go out on a golf course and beat the President.

Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.

I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.

It’s good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling.

Well, they’re Southern people, and if they know you are working at home they think nothing of walking right in for coffee. But they wouldn’t dream of interrupting you at golf.

Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety.

A grown man should always carry cash, right? I don’t know who told me, but someone told me that a long time ago, and the biggest turnoff is when a guy doesn’t have cash on him.

Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.

It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.

It is impossible, in our condition of Society, not to be sometimes a Snob.

A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone’s feelings unintentionally.

Dinner was made for eating, not for talking.

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

Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.

What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What’s the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?

I don’t do any vulgar movements.