Good manners have much to do with the emotions. To make them ring true, one must feel them, not merely exhibit them.
– Amy Vanderbilt
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.
– Amy Vanderbilt
Parents must get across the idea that I love you always, but sometimes I do not love your behavior.
– Amy Vanderbilt
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.
– Amy Vanderbilt
Do not smoke without asking permission or sit so near (as in a train) that the smoke might annoy.
– Amy Vanderbilt
Do not speak of repulsive matters at table.
– Amy Vanderbilt
The modern rule is that every woman should be her own chaperon.