Etiquette requires the presumption of good until the contrary is proved.
Emily PostRead
Manners are like primary colors, there are certain rules and once you have these you merely mix, i.e., adapt, them to meet changing situations.
Interpretation
Manners are foundational rules that can be adapted to different situations.
In this quote, Emily Post emphasizes that just as primary colors serve as the basic building blocks for a wide range of colors, manners act as fundamental principles that guide our behavior in social situations. Once we understand these essential rules, we can mix and adapt them to suit the unique contexts we encounter in our interactions, ensuring that we are respectful and considerate in diverse scenarios.
In practice
In a professional setting, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of adapting manners during a team meeting.
Etiquette requires the presumption of good until the contrary is proved.
If you are hurt, whether in mind or body, don't nurse your bruises. Get up, and light-heartedly, courageously, good-temperedly, get ready for the next encounter.
To make a pleasant and friendly impression is not alone good manners, but equally good business.
An overdose of praise is like 10 lumps of sugar in coffee; only a very few people can swallow it.
Any child can be taught to be beautifully behaved with no effort greater than quiet patience and perseverance, whereas to break bad habits once they are acquired is a Herculean task.
Courtesy demands that you, when you are a guest, shall show neither annoyance nor disappointment--no matter what happens.
People with mental problems are our neighbors. They are members of our congregations, members of our families; they are everywhere in this country. If we ignore their cries for help, we will be continuing to participate in the anguish from which those cries for help come. A problem of this magnitude will not go away. Because it will not go away, and because of our spiritual commitments, we are compelled to take action.
Dammit Sir, it's your duty to get married. You can't always be living for pleasure!
There are only four kinds of people in the world - those who have been caregivers, those who are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.
Almost no one is foolish enough to imagine that he automatically deserves great success in any field of activity; yet almost everyone believes that he automatically deserves success in marriage.
He is very fond of me, almost too fond. I could do with less caressing and more rationality. I should like to be less of a pet and more of a friend, if I might choose; but I won't complain of that: I am only afraid his affection loses in depth where it gains in ardour. I sometimes liken it to a fire of dry twigs and branches compared with one of solid coal, very bright and hot; but if it should burn itself out and leave nothing but ashes behind.
The only things worth counting on are people you can count on.
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