Short Polite Quotes & Sayings

Dwarf mothers didn't handicap their young by teaching them to be polite. My neighbors were as short on manners as they were on stature. — Erik Bundy

What's more, Fatima was fluent in the floral codes that had governed polite society since the Age of Chivalry. Not only did she know the flower that should be sent as an apology, she knew which flower to send when one has been late; when one has spoken out of turn; and when, having taking notice of the young lady at the door, one has carelessly overtrumped one's partner. In short, Fatima knew a flower's fragrance, color, and purpose better than a bee. — Amor Towles

One's appearance bespeaks dignity corresponding to the depth of his character. One's concentrated effort, serene attitude, taciturn air, courteous disposition, thoroughly polite bearing, gritted teeth with a piercing look - each of these reveals dignity. Such outward appearance, in short, comes from constant attentiveness and seriousness. — Yamamoto Tsunetomo

I can be very polite, and I think that people can confuse that for all sorts of things ... But I'll take that over people assuming that I'm smart just because I'm short and rude. — Amy Adams

We can accommodate Mr. Delgado as well. (LaCrosse)
'He'd agreed with polite grace, but he wasn't particularly happy. Someone had him by the short hairs and was braiding them.' (Carlos) — Sherrilyn Kenyon

Nose to nose with her, he gave her his best bad dog snarl. You've forgotten who and what you're dealing with here, princess. So let me jar your memory. I'm not on your father's short list of men you can bring home to dinner. I'm not a nice man. So if all you're looking for is sex ... just keep this up and you're liable to get it. And don't expect some polite little in-and-out and 'oh darling, that was lovely.' You come to my bed, I'm going to fuck you, and there won't be anything polite about it. — Cindy Gerard

Because the people may not be polite, but when it counts they're something better than polite: they're kind. They're always letting you take your tea when you're short on change. Or letting you take the first cab if you're crying. Or letting you pee when you didn't even buy something. Or rushing to your side when you step in a pothole wearing platforms and eat it, hard. Helping you trap the lop-eared, terrified rabbit that has been living in a Dumbo parking lot for weeks. Giving you directions home. — Lena Dunham

You are really tall for fifteen." His eyes drifted over me, a small smile playing on his lips. "A lot of people must seem tall to you." "Are you calling me short?" "Are you saying you're not short?" I wrinkled my nose. "I'm not delusional. It's just not polite to comment on a girl's shortness. For all you know I'm really mad at the world because I'm vertically challenged."
Young, Samantha (2014-10-07). Echoes of Scotland Street: An On Dublin Street Novel (p. 5). Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition. — Samantha Young

You'll have your turn," Wolfe told him. "He can have it now." Miss Duday was contemptuous. "That's all I have to say - unless you have questions?" "No. Well, Mr. Helmar? Go ahead." There was a polite interruption from Eric Hagh. He wanted a refill for his glass, and others were ready too, so there was a short recess. Hagh seemed to have got the impression that we were counting on him to keep Sarah Jaffee company, and I was too busy to resent it, but apparently Nat Parker wasn't. Wolfe poured beer from his third bottle, swallowed some, and prompted Helmar. "Yes, sir? — Rex Stout

Do you mind?" she asked.
"Mind what?"
"While you were looking in the mirror I couldn't help myself and I began fantasizing about you. And I figured if I was going to continue to fantasize about you, the only polite thing to do was to ask your permission. So now I'm doing the polite thing again and asking, 'do you mind?'"
"No, Nina. I don't mind at all."
Then she leaned down and kissed him. — Richard Finney

But we most of us lose our sense of proportion in the presence of a nun; and George, thus exposed at short range to this bride of Christ in her uncompromising medieval habit, finds himself becoming flustered, defensive. An unwilling conscript in Hell's legions, he faces the soldier of Heaven across the front-line of an exceedingly polite cold war. — Christopher Isherwood

I'm willing to show good taste, if I can, in somebody else's living room, but our reading life is too short for a writer to be in any way polite. Since his words enter into another's brain in silence and intimacy, he should be as honest and explicit as we are with ourselves. — John Updike

With more time spent in their mother's presence, Maggie kept topics of conversation to small stuff, seldom ever wanted to dig below the surface, learned from her mother: just be polite, which makes Callie's own facile mental questioning and creative drive, paired with her physical rigidity, all the more oppositional, and, how they dance around serious subjects, laughable. — Justin Bog

two of them, Ivan and Sergei, had strolled in, squinting curiously at my market stall. They seemed particularly interested in all the silk clothing I had just brought back from India. Ivan - the tall, dark, handsome one - was relatively polite. He waved a slender hand at his own stall, packed with the very same silk, and said, 'I think we have a problem.' Viktor - his short, psychotic brother - was more to the point. The stubby fingers of one hand curled around my table, lifted it and tipped the whole thing over. He glared at me. 'If that goes back up,' he growled, 'I'm — Frank Kusy

It was not a big smile, not particularly bold or polite or ironic or glib, not asking for anything or offering anything, not stringy or careless, not, in short, like any smile I had ever experienced before. But such a smile! You could burn a hole in the world with that smile. — Meg Rosoff

A St. Trinian's girl would be sadistic, cunning, dissolute, crooked, sordid, lacking morals of any sort and capable of any excess. She would also be well-spoken, even well-mannered and polite. Sardonic, witty and very amusing. She would be good company. In short: typically human and, despite everything, endearing. — Ronald Searle