“Life is short, but there is always time enough for courtesy.”
“The real test of good manners is to be able to put up with bad manners pleasantly.”
“While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice our local destination. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation, while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candour, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world.”
Source: Thoughts on government applicable to the present state of the American colonies.: Philadelphia, Printed by John Dunlap, M,DCC,LXXXVI.
“How do you find the right one in a world of 7 billion people? First—you become the right one. The rest will follow.”
Source: The Strength In Our Scars
“She already told me that she doesn't have to be nice, so why do I? Because my mother raised me right? That's why wolves always win. Because the rest of us mind our manners and get devoured for our efforts.”
Source: Killer Cocktail
“Manners, you see, come down to a single principle: talk of nothing that might actually prove interesting.”
Source: A Lady's Lesson in Scandal
“Few things are more agreeable than the spectacle of a man who loses his temper; we should be grateful to such people for providing us with moments of often unsullied delight.”
Source: Good Behavior: Being a Study of Certain Types of Civility
“Xingu!" she scoffed. "Why, it was the fact of our knowing so much more about it than she did—unprepared though we were—that made Osric Dane so furious. I should have thought that was plain enough to everybody!”
Source: Ethan Frome & Selected Stories
“To be loved is all I need,
And whom I love, I love indeed.”
Source: The Complete Poems
“Manners must prevail! When they suit one's situation, that is.”
Source: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8