Manners

Beauty fascinates the senses, wisdom satisfies the intellect, but eloquence ennobles the soul.
~ William Rounseville (W.R.) Alger, Place and Power of Personality in Expression (1893 essay).

I have been an "Official" all my life, without the least turn for it. I never could attain a true official manner, which is highly artificial and handles trifles with ludicrously disproportionate gravity.
~ William Allingham, in William Allingham: A Diary (1907). Chapter VI. 1864

Civility costs nothing, it is said -- nothing, that is to him that shows it; but it often costs the world very dear.
~ William Allingham, Rambles (1873). Chapter XIV. At Canterbury

[A]ttention to style ought to be with a view, not to beauty, but to power.
~ William Arthur, The Tongue of Fire: Or, The True Power of Christianity (1856). Chapter VI. Practical Lessons

I resolve never to speak of a man's virtues before his face, nor of his faults behind his back.
~ (Lord Bishop) William Beveridge

Prudence is a rich, ugly, old maid courted by Incapacity.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

Something about glamour interested me. All my schoolbooks had drawings of women on terraces with a cocktail and a cigarette.
~ Bill Blass

Proverbs are for the most part rules of moral, or, still more properly, of prudential, conduct.
~ William Thomas Brande, A Dictionary of Science, Literature, & Art (1842).

Eloquence is the poetry of prose.
~ William Cullen Bryant, in Prose Writings of William Cullen Bryant, Volume I (1884). I. Literary Essays. Lectures on Poetry. 1. On The Nature of Poetry

The master of good manners is everywhere welcome for his services.
~ (William) Bliss Carman, The Making of Personality (1908). XIV. The Might of Manners

Can it be, what has passed for prudence was prompted by my fears?
~ William Herbert Carruth, from Each In His Own Tongue: and Other Poems (1908). The Time to Strike

I say, learn reverence to thy betters.
~ William Cartwright, The Ordinary (c. 1635). Act III, scene v

[I]t was the Indians way to pass through a country without disturbing anything; to pass and leave no trace, like a fish through the water or birds through the air.
~ Willa Sibert Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927).

There is never so much novelty as when the new is seen in the old.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), in Dr. Channing's Note-book (1887). Manners

If prudery mean false modesty, it is to be despised; but if it mean modesty pushed to the utmost extent, I confess that I like it.
~ William Cobbett, Advice to Young Men: And (Incidentally) to Young Women in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life (1829). Letter III: To A Lover

Freely gaze and view all over,
Thou may'st every grace discover.
~ William Congreve, The Judgment of Paris (1701).

I have more manners than to contradict what a lady has declared.
~ William Congreve, Love for Love (1695). Act I, scene i

Where modesty's ill manners, 'tis but fit
That impudence and malice pass for wit.
~ William Congreve, The Way of the World (1700). Act I, scene ix

Kings then at last have but the lot of all:
By their own conduct they must stand or fall.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Table Talk (written in 1781)

Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ,
The substitute for genius, sense, and wit.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Table Talk (written in 1781)

Polite, yet virtuous, who has brought away
The manners, not the morals, of the day.
~ William Cowper, in The Life and Letters of William Cowper, Esq.: With Remarks on Epistolary Writers, Volume II (1812 edition)

That thou may'st injure no man, dove-like be,
And serpent-like, that none may injure thee!
~ William Cowper, in The Life and Posthumous Writings of William Cowper, Esq., Volume II (1803). Appendix. No. 4. Epigrams, Translated from the Latin of Owen: Prudent Simplicity

Etiquette ... means behaving yourself a little better than is absolutely essential.
~ Will (William Jacob) Cuppy, How to Be a Hermit or, A Bachelor Keeps House (1929). A Few Hints On Etiquette

It seems unpleasantly refined
To put things off till someone knows.
~ William Empson, from Collected Poems (1948). Autumn on Nan-Yueh (1937)

[T]he main work of grace is the ruling of the affections aright, it takes them off from the things here on earth, and lifts them up to the things that are in Heaven.
~ William Fenner, in The Works of ... Mr. William Fenner (1651). A Treatise of the Affections

Be eloquent in praise of the very dull days which have long since passed away.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Patience: Or, Bunthorne's Bride (1881 opera).

We will hang you, never fear,
Most politely, most politely.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Princess Ida (1884 opera).

Grace in the heart will appear in the life.
~ William Greenhill, An Exposition of the Prophet Ezekiel: with useful observations thereupon delivered in several lectures in London (c. 1650).

[T]rue grace, when weakest, is stronger than false, when strongest.
~ William Gurnall, The Christian In Complete Armour (1665).

Barbarism and rusticity may perhaps be instructed, but false refinement is incorrigible.
~ William Hazlitt, The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Volume I (1828). Campaign in Italy

Elegance is something more than ease; it is more than a freedom from awkwardness or restraint. It implies ... a precision, a polish, a sparkling effect, spirited yet delicate.
~ William Hazlitt, from The Plain Speaker, Volume II (1826). Essay II. On the Look of a Gentleman

[F]ashion lives only in a perpetual round of giddy innovation and restless vanity. To be old-fashioned is the greatest crime a coat or a hat can be guilty of.
~ William Hazlitt, in Sketches and Essays (1839). On Fashion (written in 1818)

Grace is the absence of every thing that indicates pain or difficulty, hesitation or incongruity.
~ William Hazlitt, from The Round Table, Vol. II (1817). On Beauty

If a person has no delicacy, he has you in his power.
~ William Hazlitt, in Monthly Magazine (January 1827). On the Want of Money

Practices, the mention of which makes the flesh creep, and that affront the light of day, ought to be put down the instant they are known, without inquiry and without repeal.
~ William Hazlitt, from The Plain Speaker, Volume I (1826). Essay V. On Reason and Imagination

It is okay to be a slob at the dinner table. It is okay to go out in public half dressed. It is even okay -- some would have us believe -- to use four-letter words in mixed company. But never, never say something political that will hurt the feelings of another human being.
~ William B. Irvine, in The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty. Volume 41, Issue 9 (September 1991). The Case for Being Insensitive

Impure manners prepare the heart for unclean spirits.
~ William Jones (of Nayland), in The Theological, Philosophical and Miscellaneous Works of the Rev. William Jones, Vol. IV (1801). Lectures on the Figurative Language of the Holy Scripture. Sermon X

Politeness is one-half good nature and the other half good lying.
~ Mary Wilson Little, from Reveries of a Paragrapher (1897). Solemn Thoughts

The grace which we do not exercise, like the limb we never use, or the faculty we never exert, withers and dies at last.
~ (Bishop) William Connor Magee, in Growth in Grace: and Other Sermons (1892). Growth in Grace (Preached in the Church of St. Mary-the-Virgin, Oxford, on 25 March 1863)

[F]ashion ever is a wayward child.
~ William Mason, from The English Garden, Book IV (1772-82).

It's very hard to be a gentleman and a writer.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, Cakes and Ale (1930).

[T]he best style is a style that you don't notice.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, from Points of View (1958).

My style is my style. I may offend a few people, my over-the-top-ness sometimes, but if it's not broken don't fix it. They look at me as the average Joe. I'm going to sit down, talk with them, have a beer, nothing real special. I'm myself and I have a good time living life.
~ Billy Mays, interview in Portfolio Magazine, World According to ... (October 2008). Q&A With Pitchman Billy Mays

That roguish and cheerful vice, politeness.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

As perplexity of soul will be your lot and portion, accept the situation with a good grace.
~ William Osler, from Science and Immortality (1904). IV. The Teresians

Be reserved, but not sour: grave, but not formal; bold, but not rash; humble, but not servile; patient, not insensible; constant, not obstinate; cheerful, not light; rather sweet, than familiar; familiar, than intimate; and intimate with very few, and upon very good grounds.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Caution and Conduct

Return the civilities thou receivest, and be grateful for favors.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Caution and Conduct

Gracious speech expresses the grace of the heart.
~ William Perkins, The Art of Prophesying (1592; English translation in 1606). Chapter X. Preaching the Word

Eloquence is not in the man, it is in the assembly.
~ William Pitt (1st Earl of Chatham)

[Politeness is] benevolence in trifles, or the preference of others to ourselves in little daily, hourly, occurrences in the commerce of life.
~ William Pitt (1st Earl of Chatham), in Letters Written by the Late Earl of Chatham (1805). Letter V. Bath, Jan. 24, 1754

The perfection of courtesy is to give to every one on all occasions his human due, as interpreted by love.
~ William Burt ("W.B.") Pope, A Compendium of Christian Theology (1875). VI. The Administration of Redemption

Hospitality in the prairie country is not limited. Even if your enemy passes your way, you must feed him before you shoot him.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), quoted in Criswell Freeman The Wisdom of the West (1997).

When ye run down politeness ye take the mortar from between the bricks of the foundation of society.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), (1906).

I am going to stick to the low brows, because I know I am at home with them. For remember, if it was not for us low brows, you high brows would have no one to discuss.
~ Will Rogers, The Illiterate Digest (1924). Defending My Soup Plate Position (aka From Nuts to Soup)

Plot, atmosphere, style, and all the rest of it may be regarded as so much nonsense.
~ William Saroyan, Three Times Three (1936).

Talent is something, but tact is everything.
~ William Pitt (W.P.) Scargill, in Essays and sketches by the Late William Pitt Scargill (1857).

Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act I, scene iv

Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle.
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard II. Act II, scene iii

Happy is your grace,
That can translate the stubbornness of fortune
Into so quiet and so sweet a style.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act II, scene i

He does it with a better grace, but I do it more natural.
~ William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night. Act II, scene iii

I am the very pink of courtesy.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act II, scene iv

I don't much dislike the matter, but
The manner of his speech.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act II, scene ii

It is a theme as fluent as the sea.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry V. Act III, scene vii

Those that are good manners at the court are as ridiculous in the country, as the behavior of the country is most mockable at the court.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act III, scene ii

[W]hen once our grace we have forgot,
Nothing goes right.
~ William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure. Act IV, scene iv

A man has generally the good or ill qualities which he attributes to mankind.
~ William Shenstone, in Works in Verse and Prose, Vol. II (1764). Essays on Men, Manners, and Things. Of Men and Manners

Bashfulness is more frequently connected with more sense, than we find assurance: and impudence, on the other hand, is often the mere effect of downright stupidity.
~ William Shenstone, in Works in Verse and Prose, Vol. II (1764). Essays on Men, Manners, and Things. On Modesty and Impudence

Of all that gives politeness birth,
Of all that claims to please,
In motion, manners, or in mirth,
The surest source is ease.
~ William Shenstone, On Miss M----s's dancing (1743).

Taste is pursued at a less expense than fashion.
~ William Shenstone, in Works in Verse and Prose, Vol. II (1764). Essays on Men, Manners, and Things. Of Men and Manners

The amiable is a duty most certainly, but must not be exercised at the expense of any of the virtues. He who seeks to do the amiable always, can only be successful at the frequent expense of his manhood.
~ William Gilmore Simms, Egeria: Or, Voices of Thought and Counsel for the Woods and Wayside (1853).

The best of men may sometimes fall into the gutter; but it is the worst only, who is willing to remain there.
~ William Gilmore Simms, Egeria: Or, Voices of Thought and Counsel for the Woods and Wayside (1853).

The only true source of politeness is consideration -- that vigilant moral sense which never loses sight of the rights, the claims, and the sensibilities of others.
~ William Gilmore Simms, Egeria: Or, Voices of Thought and Counsel for the Woods and Wayside (1853).

Off a high place, it is courtesy to let others go first.
~ William Stafford, quoted in Early Morning: Remembering My Father, William Stafford (2002).

[L]et him look, for the secrets of style, to the study of the masters of literature.
~ William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style (1918). I. Introductory

Style comes only after long, hard practice and writing.
~ William Styron, Interview in The Paris Review, Issue 5 (Spring 1954). The Art of Fiction No. 5

Keep your conduct abreast of your conscience.
~ William Mackergo Taylor, from The Limitations Of Life And Other Sermons (1879). God's Message to the Desponding

[T]hose forms are best, which have been longest received and authorized in a nation by custom and use.
~ Sir William Temple, 1st Baronet, from Miscellanea, Part I (1680). An Essay Upon the Original and Nature of Government (1672)

It is not learning, it is not virtue, about which people inquire in society. It is manners.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, from Sketches and Travels in London (1847). Mr. Brown's Letters to his Nephew: On Tailoring -- And Toilettes in General

Who misses, or who wins the prize?
Go, lose and conquer as you can:
But if you fail, or if you rise,
Be each, pray God, a gentleman.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Doctor Birch and His Young Friends (1849). Epilogue

Better is it, toward the right conduct of life, to consider what will be the end of a thing, than what is the beginning of it; for what promises fair at first may prove ill, and what seems at first a disadvantage, may prove very advantageous.
~ William V. Wells

And it is a custom of the country to let every man, as the saying is, skin his own deer. He that takes exception to this custom and horns in on what cannot rightfully be termed his particular business, will find public opinion dead against him and his journey unseasonably full of incident.
~ William Patterson White, The Heart of the Range (1921).

Such menial duties; but her way
Of looking at them lent a grace
To things the world deemed commonplace.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from New Thought Pastels (1906). Realisation

Whatever I do, I would like to do it with dignity and grace.
~ Joe Williams, in Ebony Magazine, Vol. 52, No. 10 (August 1997). Aging Gracefully

If I could command the speech of twenty nations I would preach politeness to them all.
~ George Gilbert Williams, in Modern Achievement, II. Business and Professional Life (1902). Business, Trade, and Industries. The Bank Clerk

I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947).

It is not what you say that matters but the manner in which you say it; there lies the secret of the ages.
~ William Carlos Williams, from Selected Essays (1954). Preface

No man leaves the world, in all things, such as he found it. The habits which he was instrumental in forming, may go on from century to century, an heir-loom for good or for evil, doing their work of misery or of happiness, blasting or blessing the country that has now lost all record of his memory.
~ William R. Williams, from Miscellanies (1850). Ministerial Reponsibility (delivered 18 June 1835)

Style ain't nothing but keeping the same idea from beginning to end. Everybody got it.
~ August Wilson, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984).

His style has the desperate jauntiness of an orchestra fiddling away for dear life on a sinking ship.
~ Edmund Wilson

Manners, -- The final and perfect flower of noble character and a fine civilization.
~ William Winter, from The Actor, And Other Speeches (1891). The Actor and His Duty to His Time (Address before the Actor's Fund Society, NY; 4 June 1889)

The supreme and universal rulers of human conduct are woman, vanity, money, political ambition, and religious fanaticism.
~ William Winter, from The Actor, And Other Speeches (1891). The Actor and His Duty to His Time (Address before the Actor's Fund Society, NY; 4 June 1889)

[B]e mild, and cleave to gentle things,
Thy glory and thy happiness be there.
~ William Wordsworth, from The Recluse, Part I, Book I (published in 1888). Home at Grasmere (written c. 1800)

Manners maketh man.
~ William of Wykeham, Motto (proverbial since the mid-14th century).

A style is found by sedentary toil,
And by the imitation of great masters.
~ William Butler Yeats, Per Amica Silentia Lunae (1918). Ego Dominus Tuus

Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors.
~ William P. Young, The Shack (2007).