Polite Quotes - Page 14

• 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.

  Harper Lee

  Tkam, People, Jem And Scout

  "To Kill a Mockingbird". Book by Harper Lee, July 11, 1960.

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• A community where everyone is a ruthless murderer, with handy access to death-dealing devices, is a very polite community.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Community, Ruthless, Murderer

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• For me, I felt bad for people asking the questions, cause you know their boss sent them out saying, 'Get me something on Mission Impossible.' And you ask the question, and it's just a polite, 'I'm not going to tell you.' Then, every so often, they'd go, 'Well, can't you just tell us a little bit?' I have to say, 'You know what guys, I'm under contract and I'm not going to tell you anything.' So you keep asking the questions and I'm just going to keep smiling. And it's hard, cause I don't want to seem rude, but it's part of my job just like it's part of their job to keep a secret.

  Jonathan Rhys Meyers

  People, Rude, Guy

  Source: www.movieweb.com

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• It's one of the advantages of being a woman. I get to do all sorts of unfair things, and you have to accept them because you're too polite not to. --Polgara

  David Eddings

  Being A Woman, Unfair, Accepting

  David Eddings (2010). “Seeress Of Kell: (Malloreon 5)”, p.93, Random House

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• It was not a big smile, not particularly bold or polite or ironic or glib, not asking for anything or offering anything, not stringy or careless, not, in short, like any smile I had ever experienced before. But such a smile! You could burn a hole in the world with that smile.

  Meg Rosoff

  Offering, Ironic, Asking

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• It's disquieting to reflect that one's dreams never symbolize one's real wishes, but always something Much Worse... If I really wanted to be passionately embraced by Peter, I should dream of dentists or gardening. I wonder what unspeakable depths of awfulness can only be expressed by the polite symbol of Peter's embraces?

  Dorothy L. Sayers

  Dream, Real, Wish

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• Pritkin muttered something that sounded fairly vicious. “My clothes are warded! Even if I wished to accede to your demand, it would not work on them.” “Then strip.” “I beg your pardon?” He sounded almost polite suddenly, as if he believed he couldn’t possibly have heard right.

  Karen Chance

  Clothes, Demand, Vicious

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• There was a nice dilemma. How does one interject into a polite conversation, "By the way, in case you're ever interested, I do have a penise."?

  Brent Weeks

  Nice, Doe, Way

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• Tell me about yourself, Miss Russel." I started to give him the obligatory response, first the demurral and then the reluctant flat autobiography, but some slight air of polite inattention in his manner stopped me. Instead, I found myself grinning at him. "Why don't you tell me about myself, Mr. Holmes?

  Laurie R. King

  Air, Giving, Missing

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• If a person feels terrible, it usually should not be shown or acknowledged during a greeting exchange. Instead, the unhappy person is expected to conceal negative feelings, putting on a polite smile to accompany the “Just fine, thank you, and how are you?” reply to the “How are you today?” The true feelings will probably go undetected, not because the smile is such a good mask but because in polite exchanges people rarely care how the other person actually feels.

  Paul Ekman

  Unhappy Person, People, Feelings

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• Shane settled his flamethrower more comfortably on his shoulders. “Ladies? After you.” “Rude,” Claire said. “I was being polite!” “Not when you have a flamethrower.

  Rachel Caine

  Rude, Claire, Shane

  Rachel Caine (2012). “Black Dawn: The Morganville Vampires”, p.32, Penguin

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• Authentic happiness is always independent of external conditions. Vigilantly practice polite indifference to that which we can't control. Your happiness can only be found within.

  Epictetus

  Independent, Practice, Indifference

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• God,” I moaned. “Do they use that stuff as rocket fuel?” “No one made you keep drinking it.” “Hey, don’t get preachy. Besides, I had to be polite.” “Sure,” she said.

  Richelle Mead

  Drinking, Use, Hey

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• He was so excessively polite that Wallendar suspected he had endured many humiliations in his life.

  Henning Mankell

  Humiliation

  FaceBook post by Henning Mankell from Jul 05, 2013

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• Matt's brother and the blond cook spent a good portion of last season tangling the sheets. Historically, said cook tangled many other sheets with dexterity and aplomb." "Aplomb" "It's a polite way to say she banged often, well and without too much discrimination." "That also sounded polite." "I was raised well.

  Nora Roberts

  Brother, Tangled, Way

  Nora Roberts (2012). “The Novels of Nora Roberts”, p.999, Penguin

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• A nasty letter or a sarcastic one can make you righteously angry, but what can you do about a polite letter of rejection? Nothing, really, except cry.

  E. L. Konigsburg

  Sarcastic, Rejection, Letters

  E.L. Konigsburg (2015). “From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler”, p.79, Pushkin Press

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• Girls have long been evaluated on the basis of appearance and caught in myriad double binds: achieve, but not too much, be polite,but be yourself, be feminine and adult; be aware of our cultural heritage, but don't comment on the sexism. . . . Girls are trained to be less than who they really are. They are trained to be what the culture wants of its young women, not what they themselves want to become.

  Mary Pipher

  Girl, Being Yourself, Long

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• The Japanese are, to the highest degree, both aggressive and unaggressive, both militaristic and aesthetic, both insolent and polite, rigid and adaptable, submissive and resentful of being pushed around, loyal and treacherous, brave and timid, conservative and hospitable to new ways.

  Ruth Benedict

  Brave, Degrees, Loyal

  Ruth Benedict (1967). “The chrysanthemum and the sword: patterns of Japanese culture”

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• Killing people was far easier than making polite chitchat.

  Jennifer Estep

  People, Killing, Easier

  Jennifer Estep (2011). “Tangled Threads”, p.136, Simon and Schuster

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• I was stark raving mad, and my family was too polite to mention it. That's what living with the Yamanis does to people. They get so well-mannered they won't mention you're crazy.

  Tamora Pierce

  Crazy, People, Mad

  Tamora Pierce (2014). “Protector of the Small Quartet”, p.177, Random House Books for Young Readers

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• ... Where did you go?” “Down below.” “Ugh,” she said. “I’ve heard they’re little better than animals.” Funny. I thought the same thing about most Topsiders I encountered. Tegan touched my hand in silent sympathy, and I set my jaw. ... I stepped forward and pasted on a false smile. We were in her home, after all. The least I could do was be polite. “I’m Deuce, animal from the underground.

  Ann Aguirre

  Home, Animal, Hands

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• The Irish are hearty, the Scotch plausible, the French polite, the Germans good-natured, the Italians courtly, the Spaniards reserved and decorous - the English alone seem to exist in taking and giving offense.

  William Hazlitt

  Country, Scotch, Giving

  William Hazlitt, James Thornton (1967). “Miscellaneous writings”

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• A lot of our lives are about being polite.

  Rachelle Lefevre

  Being Polite, Our Lives

  Source: twilight.tribute.ca

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• Give me the effing phone, Strider grumbled, opening his palm and waving his fingers. Effing? William laughed with genuine amusement. You ever realize how polite you get when you're hammered? And you know what they say. A man's true charactor is revealed when he's toasted. So you gotta face facts, man. You're a closet gentlmen. Loser! The heck I am! Even Paris laughed at that.

  Gena Showalter

  Men, Phones, Paris

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• Why haven’t you asked me how I do my tricks?” Celia asks, once they have reached the point where she is certain he is not simply being polite about the matter. “Because I do not wish to know,” he says. “I prefer to remain unenlightened, to better remain in the dark.

  Erin Morgenstern

  Dark, Wish, Matter

  Erin Morgenstern (2016). “The Night Circus”, p.187, Random House

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