Social Courtesy Quotes

I don't mind being recognised, as long as people are nice. I do like meeting people; it's just that some people are a bit disrespectful... Sometimes it's like, I'm having a roast dinner, and someone's taking a picture of me. I don't mind taking pictures, but just ask. Otherwise, it's a bit weird.

When it comes to dressing well, American culture is so self-fulfilled that it has not only disregarded this courtesy of self-presentation, but has turned that disregard into a virtue. "We are too superior/busy/cool/not-uptight to bother about how we look to other people, and so we can wear pajamas to school and underwear to the mall.

It is ill-manners to silence a fool and cruelty to let him go on

People will clap to be nice. They will not laugh to be nice.

It is always well to accept your own shortcomings with candor but to regard those of your friends with polite incredulity.

You may be right,' she said, a phrase which here meant 'I’m wrong, but I don’t have the courage to say so.

And if I had not a letter to write myself, I might sit by you and admire the evenness of your writing, as another young lady once did. But I have an aunt too, who must not be longer neglected.

In those days one advantage of being a woman was that there was a basic courtesy towards us on which we could draw - something which today's feminists have largely dissipated.

When I was pregnant, I was so huge and people on the bus would get up for me. That made me feel so precious and valued and valuable. I try to treat everyone like they're pregnant.

As a former waitress myself, I know firsthand how a simple smile from someone can improve your day and how a single harsh word can destroy it. Being courteous and thoughtful costs you nothing and can sometimes pay you dividends in unexpected ways.

It is equally bad when one speeds on the guest unwilling to go, and when he holds back one who is hastening. Rather one should befriend the guest who is there, but speed him when he wishes.

When you watch movies in Britain, the reaction when people hate a movie is... they just politely get up and leave at the end. And when they love a movie... they just politely get up and leave at the end.

If you wish to appear agreeable in society, you must consent to be taught many things which you know already.

We count the courtesies accorded us by unpopular people as offenses.

Stay humble. Always answer your phone - no matter who else is in the car.

It is equally offensive to speed a guest who would like to stay and to detain one who is anxious to leave.

There are people whom one should like very well to drop, but would not wish to be dropped by.

Do not smoke without asking permission or sit so near (as in a train) that the smoke might annoy.

I don't always like walking down the street and making sure that I smile and say hello to everybody who's walking their dog in the opposite direction. But I do do it. And it's a small, tiny thing to do. But to me, it means 'I see you. You're not invisible to me.'

You're 83? Really? You don't look it. I would've guessed 81 or 82.

Oh, I love ladies in hats! One rule of restaurants: never take a hat from a lady; wait for her to offer you the hat because she might not want to take it off - she might not have had time to do her hair properly.

If you did go to high school and then college, there's definitely a solidarity with someone that is from your hometown and knows your mom, and all that stuff. There's this weird politeness that we have, as a society. You don't want to make it hard for anybody.

When politeness is used to show up other people, it is reclassified as rudeness. Thus it is technically impossible to be too polite.

The gallantry of the mind consists in agreeable flattery.

Rule 1: When all else fails, follow instructions. And Rule 2: Don't be an asshole.