Manners Quotes - Page 13

• A good many causes tend to make good masters and mistresses quite as rare as good servants.... The large and rapid fortunes by which vulgar and ignorant people become possessed of splendid houses, splendidly furnished, do not, of course, give them the feelings and manners of gentle folks, or in any way really raise them above the servants they employ, who are quite aware of this fact, and that the possession of wealth is literally the only superiority their employers have over them.

  Fanny Kemble

  People, Giving, House

  Fanny Kemble (1890). “Further Records, 1848-1883: A Series of Letters, Forming a Sequel to Record of a Girlhood, and Records of Later Life”

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• As readers, we are seldom interested in the fine sentiments of a lesson learnt; we seldom care about the good manners of morals. Repentance puts an end to conversation; forgiveness becomes the stuff of moralistic tracts. Revenge - bloodthirsty, justice-hungry revenge - is the very essence of romance, lying at the heart of much of the best fiction.

  Alberto Manguel

  Revenge, Lying, Heart

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• By imitating the manners and the mode of life of the West, the Muslims are being gradually forced to adopt the Western moral outlook: for the imitation of outward appearance leads, by degrees, to a corresponding assimilation of the world-view responsible for that appearance.

  Muhammad Asad

  Views, West, Degrees

  "Islam at the Crossroads" by Muhammad Asad, Dar Al-Andalus, (p. 70), 1982.

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• In spite of difference of soil and climate, of language and manners, of laws and customs-in spite of things silently gone out of mind, and things violently destroyed, the Poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society, as it is spread over the whole earth, and over all time.

  William Wordsworth

  Passion, Law, Differences

  William Wordsworth (1837). “The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth: Together with a Description of the Country of the Lakes in the North of England, Now First Published with His Works ...”, p.502

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• A man of variable mind is not one man, but several men in one; he multiplies himself as often as he changes his taste and manners; he is not this minute what he was the last, and will not be the next what he is now; he is his own successor.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Men, Mind, Variables

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• The finest and most beautiful ideas on morals and manners have been swept away before our times, and nothing is left for us but to glean after the ancients and the ablest amongst the moderns.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Beautiful, Ideas, Moral

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• Courtly manners are contagious; they are caught at Versailles.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Versailles, Caught, Contagious

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• If we would succeed in works of the imagination, we must offer a mild morality in the midst of rigid manners; but where the manners are corrupt, we must consistently hold up to view an austere morality.

  Madame de Stael

  Views, Imagination, Succeed

  "The Influence of Literature upon Society". Book by Madame de Stael, 1800.

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• Morals are three-quarters manners.

  Felix Frankfurter

  Three, Moral, Quarters

  "Felix Frankfurter Reminisces". Book by Harlan Buddington Phillips, January 1, 1960.

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• Much like the French (or like ourselves, their apes),Who with strange habit do disguise their shapes;Who loving novels, full of affectation,Receive the manners of each other nation.

  Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas

  Shapes, Strange, Habit

  Josuah Sylvester, Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas (seigneur), Gui Du Faur de Pibrac, Odet de La Noue (seigneur de Téligny), Henry Smith (1967). “The Complete Works of Joshuah Sylvester: For the First Time Collected and Edited”

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• Simpler manners, purer lives; more self-denial; more earnest sympathy with the classes that lie below us, nothing short of that can lay the foundations of the Christianity which is to be hereafter, deep and broad.

  Frederick William Robertson

  Lying, Self, Class

  Frederick William Robertson (1873). “Sermons Preached at Brighton”, p.350

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• Two people may be at the same spot in manners and behaviour, and yet one may be getting better, and the other worse, which is the greatest of differences that could possibly exist between them.

  George MacDonald

  Two, Differences, People

  George MacDonald (2015). “The Princess and Curdie”, p.46, Xist Publishing

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• [The poet] must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations, as a being superior to time and place.

  Samuel Johnson

  Writing, Generations, Poet

  Rasselas ch. 10 (1759)

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• The essence of good manners consists in making it clear that one has no wish to hurt. When it is clearly necessary to hurt, it must be done in such a way as to make it evident that the necessity is felt to be regrettable.

  Bertrand Russell

  Hurt, Essence, Good Man

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “Mortals and Others, Volume II: American Essays 1931-1935”, p.160, Routledge

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• The movie cheerfully offends all civilized notions of taste, decorum, manners and hygiene... The movie is vulgar? Vulgarity is when we don't laugh. When we laugh, it's merely human nature.

  Roger Ebert

  Vulgarity Is, Hygiene, Laughing

  Roger Ebert's review of "American Wedding", www.rogerebert.com. August 1, 2003.

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• At whatever time highly skilled physicians shall have developed the healing of illnesses by means of foods, and shall make provision for simple foods, and shall prohibit humankind from living as slaves to their lustful appetites, it is certain that the incidence of chronic and diversified illnesses will abate, and the general health of all mankind will be much improved. This is destined to come about. In the same way, in the character, the conduct and the manners of men, universal modifications will be made.

  Abdu'l-Bahá

  Healing, Character, Mean

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• It's worth living abroad to study up on genteel and delicate manners. The maid smiles continuously; she smiles like a duchess on a stage, while at the same time it is clear from her face that she is exhausted from overwork.

  Anton Chekhov

  Maids, Faces, Exhausted

  Letter to I.P. Chekhov, October 2, 1897.

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• I hate the countrie's dirt and manners, yet I love the silence; I embrace the wit; A courtship, flowing here in full tide. But loathe the expense, the vanity and pride. No place each way is happy.

  William Habington

  Country, Hate, Pride

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• A tragedy can never suffer by delay: a comedy may, because the allusions or the manners represented in it maybe temporary.

  Horace Walpole

  Suffering, Tragedy, Delay

  Horace Walpole (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Horace Walpole (Illustrated)”, p.4955, Delphi Classics

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• The influence of woman is the same everywhere. Her condition influences the morals, manners, and character of the people of all countries. Where she is debased, society is debased; where she is morally pure and enlightened, society will be proportionately elevated.

  Samuel Smiles

  Country, Women, Character

  Samuel Smiles (1872). “Character”, p.59

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• Eutrapelia . "A happy and gracious flexibility," Pericles calls this quality of the Athenians...lucidity of thought, clearness and propriety of language, freedom from prejudice and freedom from stiffness, openness of mind, amiability of manners.

  Matthew Arnold

  Mind, Quality, Prejudice

  "Irish Essays. A Speech at Eton" by Matthew Arnold, 1882.

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• How to save the old that's worth saving, whether in landscape, houses, manners, institutions, or human types, is one of our greatest problems, and the one that we bother least about.

  John Galsworthy

  House, Saving, Landscape

  John Galsworthy (2015). “The Forsyte Saga Complete Edition: The Forsyte Saga + A Modern Comedy + End of the Chapter + On Forsyte ‘Change (A Prequel to Forsyte Saga): Complete Nine Novels”, p.2488, e-artnow

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• Man's Reason is in such deep insolvency to sense,that tho' she guide his highest flight heav'nward, and teach himdignity morals manners and human comfort,she can delicatly and dangerously bedizenthe rioting joys that fringe the sad pathways of Hell.

  Robert Bridges

  Men, Joy, Pathways

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• Tacitus has written an entire work on the manners of the Germans. This work is short, but it comes from the pen of Tacitus, who was always concise, because he saw everything at a glance.

  Tacitus

  Saws, Glances, Pens

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• Wealth held by a class and used ambitiously becomes as despotic as an absolute monarchy, and has in its hands manners, customs, laws, institutions, and governments themselves.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Government, Hands, Law

  Henry Ward Beecher, William Drysdale (1887). “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”

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