Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
It doesn't matter what you do in the bedroom as long as you don't do it in the street and frighten the horses.
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.
On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good table manners.
A man is truly ethical only when [...] he tears no leaf from a tree, plucks no flower, and takes care to crush no insects.
Gossip is when you hear something you like about someone you don't.
A kind word never broke anyone's mouth.
A compliment is a statement of an agreeable truth; flattery is the statement of an agreeable untruth.
Discretion is being able to raise your eyebrow instead of your voice.
I never resist temptation because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me.
People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise.
It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics and chemistry.
Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.
Bigotry may be roughly defined as the anger of men who have no opinions.
Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else.
You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question.
The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.
He who has no shame has no conscience.
All charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others.
This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practise ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people.
What is popular is not always right; what is right is not always popular.
Gossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco-pipes of of those who diffuse it: it proves nothing but the bad taste of the smoker.
There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.
I am in favor of preserving the French habit of kissing ladies hands - after all, one must start somewhere.
Prejudice is the child of ignorance.
We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.
Flattery is like cologne water, to be smelt of, not swallowed.
The death of dogma is the birth of morality.
Compassion is the basis of all morality.
May you live your life as if the maxim of your actions were to become universal law.
Just as the liar's punishment is, not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe any one else.
Nowadays, manners are easy and life is hard.
Universal morality is to be found in little everyday penny-events just as much as in great ones.
In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.
Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.
Morals - all correct moral laws - derive from the instinct to survive. Moral behavior is survival behavior above the individual level.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid; you must also be well-mannered.
Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, but which none have a right to expect.
Laws are sand, customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped, but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment.
The novelties of one generation are only the resuscitated fashions of the generation before last.
The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half.
How happy would many people live if they cared about other people's affairs as little as about their own.
Ethics [...] are nothing but reverence for life.
A woman will flirt with anybody in the world as long as other people are looking on.
Politeness is the flower of humanity.
Quarrels would not last long if the fault were only on one side.
Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem.
Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style.
