Etiquette requires the presumption of good until the contrary is proved.
Emily PostRead
In popular houses where visitors like to go again and again, there is always a happy combination of some attention on the part of the hostess and the perfect freedom of the guests to occupy their time as they choose.
Interpretation
A welcoming home balances hospitality with guest freedom.
This quote by Emily Post emphasizes the importance of creating a warm and inviting atmosphere in one's home that encourages visitors to return. It suggests that a successful gathering involves a harmonious interaction where the hostess provides attentive care while allowing guests the liberty to engage in their own activities, fostering a relaxed and enjoyable environment.
In practice
Use this quote during a speech about hosting successful gatherings.
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.
Only in an open, nonjudgmental space can we acknowledge what we are feeling. Only in an open space where we're not all caught up in our own version of reality can we see and hear and feel who others really are, which allows us to be with them and communicate with them properly.
He tries to peel the image from the sticky yellow backing, to show her the next time he sees her, but it clings stubbornly, refusing to detach cleanly from the past.
A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.
Thus much indeed he was obliged to acknowledge - that he had been constant unconsciously, nay unintentionally; that he had meant to forget her, and believed it to be done. He had imagined himself indifferent, when he had only been angry; and he had been unjust to her merits, because he had been a sufferer from them.
But I'd rather help than watch. I'd rather have a heart than a mind. I'd rather expose too much than too little. I'd rather say hello to strangers than be afraid of them. I would rather know all this about myself than have more money than I need. I'd rather have something to love than a way to impress you.
Those who talk most about the blessings of marriage and the constancy of its vows are the very people who declare that if the chain were broken and the prisoners left free to choose, the whole social fabric would fly asunder. You cannot have the argument both ways. If the prisoner is happy, why lock him in? If he is not, why pretend that he is?
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