Wyndham Lewis Quotes

The greater the controversy, the more you need manners.

Etiquette does not render you defenseless. If it did, even I wouldn't subscribe to it. But rudeness in retaliation for rudeness just doubles the amount of rudeness in the world.

There can be no defence like elaborate courtesy.

There's no excuse for rudeness.

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

Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.

If someone's being less than courteous to you, I don't think you need to pay any attention to them.

'Honesty' in social life is often used as a cover for rudeness. But there is quite a difference between being candid in what you're talking about, and people voicing their insulting opinions under the name of honesty.

Don't flatter yourselves that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. On the contrary, the nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become.

To refuse graciously is to confer a favor.

I have never really encountered anybody that was rude to me. Well, not to my face anyway.

Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.

Be polite. Write diplomatically. Even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.

Minimum information given with maximum politeness.

Just because you can say things that are uncivil does not mean that your should say things that are uncivil.

I get a choice every time I have to open my mouth: that it can be with civility and dignity and grace - or not.

I don't know where, or by whom, Judge Wapner was raised, but my parents taught me, when you don't have something nice to say about someone, say nothing.

It seldom pays to be rude. It never pays to be only half-rude.

It is a wise thing to be polite; consequently, it is a stupid thing to be rude. To make enemies by unnecessary and willful incivility, is just as insane a proceeding as to set your house on fire. For politeness is like a counter--an avowedly false coin, with which it is foolish to be stingy.

If we accept being talked to any kind of a way, then we are telling ourselves we are not quite worth the best. And if we have the effrontery to talk to anybody with less than courtesy, we tell ourselves and the world we are not very intelligent.

Courtesies cannot be borrowed like snow shovels; you must have some of your own.

Obviously I'm going to be polite, so nobody has anything to fear from me.

Courteousness is consideration for others; politeness is the method used to deliver such considerations.

If you're not a nice person, don't call.

Civility is not simply about manners.