Manners Quotes

Simplicity in character, in manners, in style; in all things the supreme excellence is simplicity.

I like to give my kids the life I didn’t have – they go to an excellent school; they have nice clothes, money for shopping. I’m quite generous with them, but they have fantastic manners – they’re not spoilt.

I grew up in the Midwest, so I have sort of an honorable moral code. But I moved to a city and joined a sort of fast crowd. A lot of people who grew up in the city sort of aren’t aware of manners and other ways of life and ‘common decency.’

Savages we call them because their manners differ from ours.

This man, although he appeared so humble and embarrassed in his air and manners, and passed so unheeded, had inspired me with such a feeling of horror by the unearthly paleness of his countenance, from which I could not avert my eyes, that I was unable longer to endure it.

For the standard of Christian life was to be strained to a higher pitch; more fasting was required, and more careful separation from the manners and enjoyments of the world; celibacy and martyrdom had great value set upon them, and second marriages were prohibited.

Buy other authors’ books when you go to their events. Even if you aren’t going to read it. Even if you are going to give it away. Even if you aren’t interested. Not just for the author but for the bookstore. It’s karma and just plain good manners.

I dreamed my way into Lincoln and the details that moved me – his lack of education or ‘civilized’ manners and his deep connection to all humankind.

He combines the manners of a Marquis with the morals of a Methodist.

I don’t accept bad manners, so all my grandchildren are very well behaved, just like my kids.

I wanted to do something in the style of a comedy of manners.

Good manners don’t cost nothing.

I want to see what this baby’s going to be into; how I can participate in his interests. You know, teach him things, see the manners that he will inhabit from both of us and see the first smile and what he’s gonna say first. Hopefully ‘dada’ not ‘mama.’

No advance in wealth, no softening of manners, no reform or revolution has ever brought human equality a millimeter nearer.

High rank and soft manners may not always belong to a true heart.

For some people, the definition of who is and who isn’t an American defies logic, historical accuracy, common sense, decency, good manners, the milk of human kindness, enjoyment in the good things in life, and love of good food.

My grandmother used to teach me that it’s bad manners to invite yourself to somebody’s house.

There’s a real intense thing about manners in the South, a real prescribed way to be a woman.

Don’t misunderstand good manners for passivity.

Nothing is so great an example of bad manners as flattery. If you flatter all the company, you please none; If you flatter only one or two, you offend the rest.

A lot of people would be embarrassed to admit that they were on ‘Barney’, but I embrace the fact. I just had such a wonderful time doing that show. I learned what a camera and prop is, and all that. I learned my manners too, so I guess that’s a good thing!

Not to be purple, but I’ve never been a ‘bad boy’ kind of girl. I like manners.

That survival instinct, that will to live, that need to get back to life again, is more powerful than any consideration of taste, decency, politeness, manners, civility. Anything. It’s such a powerful force.

When going out on a date, I think there are certain old-fashioned manners that I still enjoy. I don’t mean that as an anti-feminist comment. I just mean it as a pro-women comment. There must be a place for us to exist and our differences to exist without one taking away from the other.

I could start a war in 30 seconds. But some countries spend 100 years trying to find peace. Just like good manners, peace has to be learned.

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.

I’ve met a lot of military men in my time. After they retire, they are still extremely game. They dress perfectly and have impeccable manners. They always end up as secretaries of golf clubs. I have great admiration for them.

Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.

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.

Men and women must be educated, in a great degree, by the opinions and manners of the society they live in.

Respect goes a long way when you carry yourself a certain way and show manners when you first meet someone. If you do that, then it’s hard for somebody not to like you.

Song Joong-ki is known for his sincerity and manners. He is younger than me, but I thought I learned many things from him.

I was raised by very traditional Southern parents with Southern manners. You don’t air your dirty laundry to people that aren’t your family or your friends. Why would I ever want to portray myself as anything other than together?

Good manners are cost effective. They not only increase the quality of life in the workplace, they contribute to employee morale, embellish the company image, and play a major role in generating profit.

Women take great care of themselves in France. It’s a culture dedicated to making women beautiful and to manners.

There are few things more American than falling back on the language of race when what we’re really talking about is class or, more accurate still, manners, values and taste.

I always tried to be the perfect little girl. Always tried to have the perfect little manners. Never wanted to displease my parents.

It’s one of these things that I’ve been struck by for so long about America. You know, this amazing politeness of American life that’s not at all class specific. It’s not like people get more polite as ascend the hierarchy of society. Just incredible good manners. It’s always been something that I’ve noticed.

It doesn’t matter how many A-levels you have, what kind of a degree you have, if you have good manners, people will like you.

Most women find a man with good manners sexy.

There’s a thing that happens to Midwesterners – we spend a lot of time talking about having a different set of rules about manners. I don’t know about ethics, but certainly about manners, what you would say and what you wouldn’t say. And that is not very East coast.

The ministers of Christ should possess refinement. All uncouth manners, attitudes and gestures should be discarded, and they should encourage in themselves humble dignity of bearing.

The people were simpler, more peaceable and friendly in their manners and dispositions; and assassinations, which give the southern provinces so ill a reputation, were almost unknown.

Don’t keep your good manners to the end another time, but begin with them.

It is possible to have good manners and be funny at the same time. Ronnie Barker and I proved that.

Manners make the world work. They’re not only based on kindness but also efficiency. When people know what to do, the world is smoother. When no one knows what to do, it’s chaos.

I remember my father, who was ‘somebody’ in the synagogue, bringing home with him one of the poor men who waited outside to be chosen to share the Passover meal. These patriarchal manners I remember well, although there was about them an air of bourgeois benevolence which was somewhat comic.

My parents brought me up to speak the way I speak, to hold my head up high, to know wrong from right and to have manners.

A man who pretends to understand women is bad manners. For him to really to understand them is bad morals.

Parents are usually more careful to bestow knowledge on their children rather than virtue, the art of speaking well rather than doing well; but their manners should be of the greatest concern.

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

This self-congratulatory notion Americans have that their country is Number One is borne of ignorance and bad manners.

The most fascinating person is always the one of the most winning manners; not the one of greatest physical beauty.

But my father was also the one who told me I needed to clean up my mouth or I’d never find a man. What’s very important to him is manners. Show up on time. Always send thank-you letters. He is one of the more thoughtful humans I’ve ever met. He’s a great man and a very good dad.

Indeed, Miss Manners has come to believe that the basic political division in this country is not between liberals and conservatives but between those who believe that they should have a say in the love lives of strangers and those who do not.

Taste is more to do with manners than appearances. Taste is both myth and reality; it is not a style.

Beware of a man with manners.

It strikes me as bad manners for a magazine to accept one of my advertisements and then attack it editorially – like inviting a man to dinner then spitting in his eye.

My parents were relaxed, but very strict on manners. They encouraged us to follow our instincts and desires, so they were quite bohemian in that sense, but we had to work hard and that included chores.

Politeness is half good manners and half good lying.

In the period before the arrival of Mrs. Thatcher, politics had been in such low esteem. Everything was so hedged, so mealy-mouthed. Then along came this woman who seemed to have no manners at all and said exactly what she thought. Everyone’s eyes were popping and their jaws were dropping, and I really enjoyed that.

Unfortunately, chivalry seems to be on the decline, but let’s hope that manners can remain important. I, for one, will certainly be an evangelist with it.

Once I said to my mother: ‘You would be happy if I just kept well-dressed and had good manners,’ and she said: ‘What else is there?’

Be simple in words, manners, and gestures. Amuse as well as instruct. If you can make a man laugh, you can make him think and make him like and believe you.

The news media is so quick to pick up tragic stories of imperiled children that it seems like there are more terrible events today than ever before – when in fact it’s quite the opposite. It is, in all manners possible to calculate, the safest time in the history of civilization to be a kid.

Manners is the key thing. Say, for instance, when you’re growing up, you’re walking down the street, you’ve got to tell everybody good morning. Everybody. You can’t pass one person.

The man who practises unselfishness, who is genuinely interested in the welfare of others, who feels it a privilege to have the power to do a fellow-creature a kindness – even though polished manners and a gracious presence may be absent – will be an elevating influence wherever he goes.

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

I always open doors for women. It’s just good manners.

God Almighty has set before me two great objects: the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.

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.

It’s so important to have manners and treat people from all walks of life the way they should be treated.

The show is like an Edwardian play – emotional life gets stepped on for the sake of accepted manners, and that’s terrific for actors to play in.

Adam and Eve are like imaginary numbers, like the square root of minus one… If you include it in your equation, you can calculate all manners of things, which cannot be imagined without it.

We’re living in what I like to call the ‘Thank You Economy,’ because only the companies that can figure out how to mind their manners in a very old-fashioned way – and do it authentically – are going to have a prayer of competing.

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.

Thank goodness I was brought up with the grounding of my parents, and taught manners.

The Masters is a sell-out annually, and even the scalpers mind their manners.

Nothing seems at first sight less important than the outward form of human actions, yet there is nothing upon which men set more store: they grow used to everything except to living in a society which has not their own manners.

James Salter is a consummate storyteller. His manners are precise and elegant; he has a splendid New York accent; he runs his hands through his gray hair and laughs boyishly.

There are two elements to nailing a job interview: form and substance. ‘Form’ describes the outer layer of your character – your manners, your demeanor, your social skills. ‘Substance’ describes the inner core of your character – your intellect, your empathy, your creativity.

Being a parent does not give you an excuse for bad manners.

It’s really important for children to have good morals and good manners, and that they’re thoughtful of other people and that they learn the consequences of their actions.

The manners thing’s got worse. People think they can just text you if they’ve got bad news for you. It’s not on. And as for people taking pictures at gigs on their phones, that’s just weird.

Conventional manners are a kind of literacy test for the alien who comes among us.

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

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

Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings.

Roxy Music’ and ‘For Your Pleasure,’ those exercises in learning and unlearning of accent and manners, are Pop’s equivalent of ‘The Talented Mr Ripley.’ The clothes , the bearing and the voice are faked, but not yet perfectly.

Let’s face it: professing a deep interest in movies, the absolutely dominant global art form of the last century, is at this point like professing an interest in air. Passion is nice. Erudition is admirable. But it’s like that moment when good manners cross over into meaningless etiquette.

I don’t do plays without jokes anymore. I’ve retired from those plays. I think it’s bad manners to invite people to sit in the dark for two and a half hours and not tell them the joke.

Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.

I don’t like people’s table manners. That really puts you off eating food.

Seattle is a liberal city, its politics not so much blue (in the American, not the British, sense) as deep ultramarine, and its manners are studiously polite.

I lived in a world where social arrangements were taken for granted and assumed to be timeless. A child’s obligation was to learn these usages, not to question them. The complexities of racial deportment were of a piece with learning manners and etiquette more generally.

Good manners are appreciated as much as bad manners are abhorred.

I get more disgusted with men all the time – particularly traveling Americans. They start out on a trip to Europe and never bother to pack a dinner jacket. This is not only stupid – it’s bad manners.

Manners are nothing more than thinking about somebody else.

I will not ever say that it’s good to start with too little preparation, because that’s patently not true. But I don’t rehearse the way a lot of directors do, to stage a scene in terms of manners and attitudes and lock them in.

I seek constantly to improve my manners and graces, for they are the sugar to which all are attracted.

Modern morality and manners suppress all natural instincts, keep people ignorant of the facts of nature and make them fighting drunk on bogey tales.

The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.

Grace is in garments, in movements, in manners; beauty in the nude, and in forms. This is true of bodies; but when we speak of feelings, beauty is in their spirituality, and grace in their moderation.

Manners are the hypocrisy of a nation.

Everyone has a temper, but in Sweden, no one throws a racquet or screams. We show more manners and common sense. This is a game, not war.

The progress of the American Revolution has been so rapid and such the alteration of manners, the blending of characters, and the new train of ideas that almost universally prevail, that the principles which animated to the noblest exertions have been nearly annihilated.

Lack of etiquette and manners is a huge turn off. Men who don’t behave decently are irritating. Also, I don’t like guys who show off. When will guys realize that girls hate showoffs!

I have always thought you could take the measure of a man by his sports manners – that is to say, the way in which he conducts himself on the playing field, or even over a game of chess or cards.

My family’s big on discipline, respect, manners, make sure that we respect our elders. So that’s kind of what the military is. You have to say, ‘Yes sir,’ ‘No ma’am,’ ‘Yes ma’am.’ All that stuff. That’s kind of the mold my dad has for my brothers and I.

If I’m receiving an email from a stranger, I usually like it to be properly thoughtful and explanatory, and not just hitting someone up for a casual favor out of the blue who you’ve never met before. I really believe in manners.

I was brought up in a way that when you’re at a dinner party, you don’t grab a chip unless it’s been offered to everyone else. It’s the manners of being brought up by English parents.

I don’t ever knock anybody; that’s bad manners.

Manners are the lubricating oil of an organization. It is a law of nature that two moving bodies in contact with each other create friction. This is as true for human beings as it is for inanimate objects.

Command that no one be received, or kept to be of your household indoors or without, if one has not reasonable belief of them that they are faithful, discreet, and painstaking in the office for which they are received, and withal honest and of good manners.

Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.

Once I said to my mother: ‘You would be happy if I just kept well-dressed and had good manners,’ and she said: ‘What else is there?’

I think being able to teach your children manners and to be respectful is one thing that you can do regardless to what class you come from or what religious belief you have.

Friends and good manners will carry you where money won’t go.

There is so much bad manners and oafishness in large corporations.

Sometimes you need to step away from the game. I’ve had to do that in different manners in my career.

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