Civility Quotes

“The will to be polite, to maintain civility and normalcy, is fearfully strong. I wonder sometimes how much evil is permitted to run unchecked simply because it would be rude to interrupt it.”
― Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January

“We hear a great deal about the rudeness of the ris-
ing generation. I am an oldster myself and might be
expected to take the oldsters' side, but in fact I have
been far more impressed by the bad manners of par-
ents to children than by those of children to parents.
Who has not been the embarrassed guest at family
meals where the father or mother treated their
grown-up offspring with an incivility which, offered
to any other young people, would simply have termi-
nated the acquaintance? Dogmatic assertions on mat-
ters which the children understand and their elders
don't, ruthless interruptions, flat contradictions,
ridicule of things the young take seriously some-
times of their religion insulting references to their
friends, all provide an easy answer to the question
"Why are they always out? Why do they like every
house better than their home?" Who does not prefer
civility to barbarism?”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

“Politeness is the first thing people lose once they get the power.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“When the healthy pursuit of self-interest and self-realization turns into self-absorption, other people can lose their intrinsic value in our eyes and become mere means to the fulfillment of our needs and desires.”
― P.M. Forni, The Civility Solution: What to Do When People Are Rude

“You can disagree without being disagreeable.”
― Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“Aspire to decency. Practice civility toward one another. Admire and emulate ethical behavior wherever you find it. Apply a rigid standard of morality to your lives; and if, periodically, you fail ­ as you surely will ­ adjust your lives, not the standards.”
― Ted Koppel

“When you know you can do something, and you feel good about yourself, you do not have to devalue others.”
― John Patrick Hickey, Oops! Did I Really Post That

“Be egalitarian regarding persons. Be elitist regarding ideas.”
― Peter Kreeft

“Be a person that others will look for your posts daily because they know you will encourage them. Be the positive one and help others to have a great day and you will find that not only they like you but you will like you too.”
― John Patrick Hickey, Oops! Did I Really Post That

“If I had to name the biggest difference between Bhutan and the rest of the world, I could do it in one word, civility.”
― Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan

“Words were insufficient for the elevation of his [Mr Collins'] feelings; and he was obliged to walk about the room, while Elizabeth tried to unite civility and truth in a few short sentences.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“Women enjoy a different history of madness. From witchcraft to hysteria we're just bad news. We know that women were condemned as witches because they were mentally unstable but no one has considered the numbers - even few as they might be - of women who were stoned to death for being bright. That I havent wound up chained to a cellar wall or burned at the stake is not a testament to our ascending civility but to our ascending skepticism. If we still believed in witches we'd still be burning them.”
― Cormac McCarthy, Stella Maris

“At the end of the day, dipping into the attack well of body-shaming, racism, misogyny, and ableism is just lazy. When people resort to these kinds of tactics, I simply think that they have lost the ability to debate the merits and content of a position. Instead, they want to play to the bot-fueled, troll-fed, worst of who humans can be.”
― Bruce Reyes-Chow, In Defense of Kindness: Why It Matters, How It Changes Our Lives, and How It Can Save the World

“The conversation soon turned upon fishing, and she heard Mr. Darcy invite him, with the greatest civility, to fish there as often as he chose while he continued in the neighbourhood, offering at the same time to supply him with fishing tackle, and pointing out those parts of the stream where there was usually most sport. Mrs. Gardiner, who was walking arm in arm with Elizabeth, gave her a look expressive of her wonder. Elizabeth said nothing, but it gratified her exceedingly; the compliment must be all for herself. Her astonishment, however, was extreme; and continually was she repeating, "Why is he so altered? From what can it proceed? It cannot be for me, it cannot be for my sake that his manners are thus softened. My reproofs at Hunsford could not work such a change as this. It is impossible that he should still love me.”
― Jane Austen

“اخترق العسكريون كل المجالات وصبغوا كل المصالح المدنية باللون الماكي”
― محمد نجيب, كنت رئيسًا لمصر

“By speaking with courtesy and respect, you are offering a wonderful gift to yourself, a useful embarrassment to the unkind, and a good example to bystanders.”
― Giannis Delimitsos

“Never in England were there so many gentlemen and so little gentleness.”
― C.J. Sansom, Tombland

“Being nice is often about avoiding conflict, letting inappropriate actions slide, or bottling up words and actions that ought to be spoken and enacted to prevent creating an uncomfortable scene. At its worst, being nice reinforces actions and attitudes that strip away human dignity.”
― Bruce Reyes-Chow, In Defense of Kindness: Why It Matters, How It Changes Our Lives, and How It Can Save the World

“Say it in the street, that's a knock-out
But you say it in a tweet, that's a cop-out.”
― Taylor Swift

“There is a marked decline in something we value". It's the destruction of civility," said the Duke. "Twenty years ago, people may have had their differences of opinion - of course they did- but they did not abuse one another for it. They respected those with whom they disagreed. They spoke courteously.”
― Alexander McCall Smith

“Citizenship is not a spectator sport.”
― Steve Miska

“We were so raw that we could be seduced by civility.”
― Peter Straub, Shadowland

“Societal civility is the extension and expansion of individual gallantry: it’s all about—or ought to be about—balance and restraint”
― Brad Miner, The Compleat Gentleman: The Modern Man's Guide to Chivalry

“Chivalry was more an ambition than an accomplishment, but—and this is the important thing—it was the common ambition of increasing numbers of men, and it had the effect of elevating and concretizing their civil righteousness. Religion also did this.”
― Brad Miner, The Compleat Gentleman: The Modern Man's Guide to Chivalry

“They feel that fame gives them some kind of privilege to walk up to you and say anything to you, you know, of any kind of nature - and it won't hurt your feelings - like it's happening to your clothing.”
― Marilyn Monroe

“They were buffoons with barricaded eyes, their shoulders held in positions of immovable defense. Each position upon the great floor could be seen as an atrophic collision from which dead flesh might slough away to reveal skeletons. Their bodies, their clothes, and their faces described individual hells-the insucked breast of concealed terrors, the glittering hook of a jewel became substitute armor; the mouths were judgments full of frightened absolutes, cathedral prisms of eyebrows showing lofty and religious sentiments which their loins denied.”
― Frank Herbert, Children of Dune

“Blowpipes and darts——heathen, I call it,” said Mrs. Mitchell.
“You are right,” said Poirot, addressing her with a flattering air of being struck by her remarks. “Not so is an English murder committed.”
“You’re right, sir.”
― Agatha Christie, Death in the Clouds

“To be civilized, really, is to be aware of the others, their hopes, their gladnesses, their illusions about life”
― Sherwood Anderson, Death in the Woods and Other Stories

“Good manners without sincerity are like a beautiful dead lady.

Straightforwardness without civility is like a surgeon's knife, effective but unpleasant.

Candor with courtesy is helpful and admirable.”
― Yukteswar Giri

“A sweetened poison may go down more easily but will kill you just as surely.”
― Jamie Arpin-Ricci