To do exactly as your neighbors do is the only sensible rule.

A gentleman should never take his hat off with a flourish.

Whenever two people come together and their behavior affects one another, you have etiquette.

Courtesy demands that you, when you are a guest, shall show neither annoyance nor disappointment--no matter what happens.

To tell a lie in cowardice, to tell a lie for gain, or to avoid deserved punishment--are all the blackest of black lies.

Manners are made up of trivialities of deportment which can be easily learned if one does not happen to know them; manner is personality - the outward manifestation of one's innate character and attitude toward life.... Etiquette must, if it is to be of more than trifling use, include ethics as well as manners. Certainly what one is, is of far greater importance than what one appears to be.

Custom is a mutable thing; yet we readily recognize the permanence of certain social values. Graciousness and courtesy are never old-fashioned.