See Also: BEHAVIOR, PROPRIETY/IMPROPRIETY

1. As chatty and polite as Rotarians —Richard Ford
2. Decorously polite as patients in a dentist’s waiting room —Francis King
3. Evil manners will, like watered grass, grow up very quickly —Plautus

   While bad manners might no longer be looked upon as evil, Plautus’ simile in relation to how any evil spreads remains true.

4. Had the manners of a disobliging steamroller … and he was rather less particular about his dress than a scarecrow —George Bernard Shaw
5. His speech sounds like a spoken bread-and-butter note —W. P. Kinsella

   See Also: SPEAKING

6. Manners are like spices, you can’t make a meal of them but they add a great deal to the meal’s enjoyment —Anon
7. Manners are like the cipher in arithmetic; they may not be of much value in themselves, but they are capable of adding a great deal to the value of everything else —Anon
8. Manners … as soft as wool —Lorenz Hart

   This is part of the refrain of a song named “Moon of My Delight” written for Chee-Chee.

9. Our manners, like our faces, though ever so beautiful must differ in their beauty —Lord Shaftesbury
10. The pleasure of courtesy is like the pleasure of good dancing —Alain
11. Polite as pie —F. van Wyck Mason
12. Politeness is like an air-cushion; there may be nothing to it, but it eases our jolts wonderfully —Samuel Johnson
13. Rudeness (to Mrs. Dosely) was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate, it slid and melted away —Elizabeth Bowen
14. Sedate as a judge in court —Rhys Davies
15. Sit bolt upright and smile without cease like a well-bred dinner guest —Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
16. To be cordial is like roughing a man’s head to jolly him up, or kissing a child that doesn’t want to be kissed. You are relieved when it’s over —George Santayana
17. Ungracious as a hog —Tobias Smollett
18. Ungracious … like a child who opens a birthday gift and barely glances at it before reaching to unwarp the next —Barbara Lazear Ascher
19. An ungracious man is like a story told at the wrong time —The Holy Bible/Apocrypha