Amy Vanderbilt Quotes

Good manners have much to do with the emotions. To make them ring true, one must feel them, not merely exhibit them.

Parents must get across the idea that "I love you always, but sometimes I do not love your behavior."

I am a journalist in the field of etiquette. I try to find out what the most genteel people regularly do, what traditions they have discarded, what compromises they have made.

The modern rule is that every woman should be her own chaperon.

We must learn which ceremonies may be breached occasionally at our convenience and which ones may never be if we are to live pleasantly with our fellow man.

Ceremony is-really a protection, too, in times of emotional involvement, particularly at death. If we have a social formula to guide us and do not have to extemporize, we feel better able to handle life.

Do not smoke without asking permission or sit so near (as in a train) that the smoke might annoy.

Do not speak of repulsive matters at table.