A general rule of etiquette is that one apologizes for the unfortunate occurrence, but the unthinkable is unmentionable.

Miss Manners does not mind explaining the finer points of gracious living, but she feels that anyone without the sense to pick up a potato chip and stuff it in their face should probably not be running around loose on the streets.

It is a widespread and firm belief among guests that their departure is always a matter of distress to their hosts, and that in order to indicate that they have been pleasantly entertained, they must demonstrate an extreme unwillingness to allow the entertainment to conclude. This is not necessarily true.

Why bring children into a world where no one writes letters?

the obligation to express gratitude deepens with procrastination. The longer you wait, the more effusive must be the thanks.

Nowadays, you form your beliefs to fit your behavior, not the other way around.

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.