406 Quotes About Manners

Any society is in danger of dismissing the virtue of another society because of its vices, and a democracy is always in danger of not paying enough attention to manners and forms.

I believe that treating other people well is a lost art.

Nimewapa watoto wangu kila kitu katika maisha isipokuwa umaskini. Lakini bado wamenishinda.

Wape watoto wako urithi wa kutosha ili waweze kufanya kitu, lakini si urithi wa kutosha ili wasiweze kufanya kitu. Wape watoto uhuru wanaostahili kupata, uhuru wa mahesabu, lakini si uhuru wa kila kitu.

Ukiwapa watoto wako uhuru wa shaghalabaghala au uhuru wa kila kitu watajisahau! Wape uhuru wa mahesabu.

Expecting gratitude for a gift is... unseemly.

He wondered if they knew fear, and thought that maybe if they didn’t, he could teach them it, like he’d taught manners to the foul-tongued and the red-handed.

Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners

One reason that the task of inventing manners is so difficult is that etiquette is folk custom, and people have emotional ties to the forms of their youth. That is why there is such hostility between generations in times of rapid change; their manners being different, each feels affronted by the other, taking even the most surface choices for challenges.