Impoliteness Quotes

It is doubt that makes faith precious,
deciet that makes honesty precious,
grief that makes happiness precious,
error that makes truth precious,
fear that makes love precious,
pride that makes humility precious,
shame that makes honor precious,
anger that makes peace precious,
greed that makes contentment precious,
despair that makes hope precious,
cruelty that makes kindness precious,
disloyalty that makes commitment precious,
lawlessness that makes justice precious,
vengance that makes forgiveness precious,
frustration that makes patience precious,
hatred that makes tolerance precious,
disbelief that makes trust precious,
uncertainty that makes confidence precious,
skepticism that makes conviction precious,
insolence that makes courtesy precious,
impoliteness that makes manners precious,
imprudence that makes civility precious,
contempt that esteem precious,
meanness that makes hospitality precious,
stinginess that makes generosity precious,
roughness that makes gentleness precious,
negligence that makes discipline precious,
and confusion that makes order precious. ~ Matshona Dhliwayo

Phoebe Hurty hired me to write copy for ads about teen aged clothes. I had to wear the clothes I praised. That was part of the job. And I became friends with her two sons, who were my age. I was over at their house all the time.

She would talk bawdily to me and her sons, and our girlfriends when we brought them around. She was funny. She was liberating. She taught us to be impolite in conversation not only about sexual matters, but about American history and famous heroes, about the distribution of wealth, about school, about everything.

I now make my living being impolite. I am clumsy at it. I keep trying to imitate the impoliteness which was so graceful in Phoebe Hurty. I think now that grace was easier for her than it is for me because of the mood of the Great Depression. She believed what so many Americans believed then: that the nation would be happy and just and rational when prosperity came.

I never hear that word anymore: Prosperity. It used to be a synonym for Paradise. And Phoebe Hurty was able to believe that the impoliteness she recommended would give shape to an American paradise.

Now her sort of impoliteness is in fashion. But nobody believes anymore in a new American paradise. I sure miss Phoebe Hurty. ~ Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Impoliteness is frequently the sign of an awkward modesty that loses its head when surprised and hopes to conceal this with rudeness. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

I'd been raised by my parents to believe barfing your feelings on other people was the height of impoliteness ... ~ Stephen King

A person who holds strong convictions might appear inflexible, impolite, or exceptionally obtuse, when they are merely direct. ~ Kilroy J. Oldster

A revolution is always distinguished by impoliteness, probably because the ruling classes did not take the trouble in good season to teach the people fine manners. ~ Leon Trotsky

Whenever there's an interview with me, I might read it, but I don't read the comments because they're so hateful sometimes. When someone writes something nasty, I just think, "If that's your contribution to my day, I really don't need your impoliteness." I'm lucky that people are very cool with me and I get a lot of love. I appreciate that. ~ Boy George

Social mores change with time, like fashion - who knows where it might all end up? I especially like the idea that waste, impoliteness and overpopulation become "abominations," although I'm not sure recycling one's aunt will ever truly catch on. ~ Jasper Fforde