Etiquette Quotes

• Those who have mastered etiquette, who are entirely, impeccably right, would seem to arrive at a point of exquisite dullness.

  Dorothy Parker

  Manners, Exquisite, Dullness

  Dorothy Parker (1970). “A month of Saturdays: thirty-one famous pieces by "Constant Reader"”

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• The high point of civilization is that you can hate me and I can hate you but we develop an etiquette that allows us to deal with each other because if we acted solely upon our impulse we'd probably go to war.

  Stanley Crouch

  Hate, War, Civilization

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

  H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

  Inspirational, Mean, People

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• Etiquette means behaving yourself a little better than is absolutely essential.

  Will Cuppy

  Mean, Essentials, Littles

  Will Cuppy (1929). “How to be a Hermit: Or, A Bachelor Keeps House”, Castrovilli Giuseppe

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• Etiquette requires us to admire the human race.

  Mark Twain

  Race, Admire, Humans

  Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.187, Courier Corporation

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• Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.

  Clarence Thomas

  Inspirational, Education, Integrity

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• Nothing is less important than which fork you use. Etiquette is the science of living. It embraces everything. It is ethics. It is honor.

  Emily Post

  Honor, Important, Use

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• 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.

  Emily Post

  Feelings, Awareness Of Others, Behaviour

  Reader's Digest, Volume 68, 1956.

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• Politeness and consideration for others is like investing pennies and getting dollars back.

  Thomas Sowell

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

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• When we lack etiquette, we trash things. We trash each other. We trash the environment. We lose sight of the value of things. We suffer alienation when our spirit is disconnected from our physical awareness.

  Frederick Lenz

  Buddhist, Buddhism, Sight

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• Etiquette has no regard for moral qualities.

  Douglas William Jerrold

  Quality, Moral, Regard

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• Politeness is the art of choosing among your thoughts.

  Madame de Stael

  Art, Courtesy, Manners

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• Etiquette can be at the same time a means of approaching people and of staying clear of them.

  David Riesman

  Mean, People, Manners

  David Riesman (1950). “The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character”

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• He who observes etiquette but objects to lying is like someone who dresses fashionably but wears no vest.

  Walter Benjamin

  Lying, Dresses, Vests

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• The world was my oyster but I used the wrong fork.

  Oscar Wilde

  Oysters, World, Table Manners

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• Fashion exists for women with no taste, etiquette for people with no breeding.

  Marie of Romania

  Fashion, People, Taste

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• Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Hypocrisy, Manners, Politeness

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.184, University of Georgia Press

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• I am a journalist in the field of etiquette. I try to find out what the most genteel people regularly do, what traditions they have discarded, what compromises they have made.

  Amy Vanderbilt

  People, Trying, Fields

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• We already know that anonymous letters are despicable. In etiquette, as well as in law, hiring a hit man to do the job does not relieve you of responsibility.

  Judith Martin

  Jobs, Responsibility, Men

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• A general rule of etiquette is that one apologizes for the unfortunate occurrence, but the unthinkable is unmentionable.

  Judith Martin

  Apology, Apologizing, Unfortunate

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• I begin to grow heartily tired of the etiquette and nonsense so fashionable in this city.

  George Mason

  Tired, Cities, Nonsense

  Letter to his son, George Mason, May 27, 1787.

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• We show wisdom by a decent conformity to social etiquette; it is excess of neatness or display that creates dandyism in men, and coquetry in women.

  Robert Adam

  Men, Excess, Coquetry

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• Protocol is etiquette with a government expense account.

  Judith Martin

  Government, Definitions, Expenses

  Judith Martin (1982). “Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior”, Scribner

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• Every one of us is an artist, and as an artist, you really can stroll into any venue that you want, as long as you take your time to learn the etiquette of that venue.

  Terrence Howard

  Artist, Long, Want

  "Terrence Dashon Howard: A rising star". Interview with Jason Zingale, www.bullz-eye.com. August 5, 2005.

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• Associate with well-mannered persons and your manners will improve. Run around with decent folk and your own decent instincts will be strengthened.

  Stanley Walker

  Running, Manners, Instinct

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