Tactfully Quotes & Sayings

This should be a pleasant little interview. All I have to do is put on my scary face."
"You have a scary face?" Ingrid sounded skeptical.
"Yes," said Myfanwy indignantly. "I have a very scary face."
Ingrid surveyed her for a moment. "You may wish to take off the cardigan then, Rook Thomas," she advised tactfully. "The flowers on the pocket detract somewhat from your menace. — Daniel O'Malley

I don't think I've ever been critical of the money Douglas Adams makes, especially since, as has been tactfully pointed out, I myself have had to change banks having filled the first one up. — Terry Pratchett

A sin is nothing more than regret. Not for doing it once, but doing it again when you know you're going to regret it. — Carroll Bryant

Man's character is his fate. — Heraclitus

Her grey, sun-strained eyes stared straight ahead, but she had deliberately shifted our relations, and for a moment I thought I loved her. But I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires, and I knew that first I had to get myself definitely out of that tangle back home. I'd been writing letters once a week and signing them: "Love, Nick," and all I could think of was how, when that certain girl played tennis, a faint mustache of perspiration appeared on her upper lip. Nevertheless there was a vague understanding that had to be tactfully broken off before I was free. — F Scott Fitzgerald

The full potentialities of human fury cannot be reached until a friend of both parties tactfully interferes. — Gilbert K. Chesterton

I am like a wounded animal in a remote isolated place - How wonderful! - How happy! — Dalai Lama

It takes a great man to give sound advice tactfully, but a greater to accept it graciously. — Logan Pearsall Smith

Aristotle states that only one thing could justify monarchy, and that was if the virtue of the king and his family were greater than the virtue of the rest of the citizens put together. Tactfully, — Aristotle.

If criticism is needed, do it tactfully. Don't use a sledgehammer when a fly swatter will do the job. — Ann Landers

It was the critic Alexander who put me on my guard against unnecessary fault-finding. People should not be sharply corrected for bad grammar, provincialisms, or mispronunciation; it is better to suggest the proper expression by tactfully introducing it oneself in, say, one's reply to a question or one's acquiescence in their sentiments, or into a friendly discussion of the topic itself (not of the diction), or by some other suitable form of reminder. — Anonymous

When you need to correct someone, be resolved not to do so in a blaming manner. Before criticizing, view the situation from the other person's point of view. Then be careful to speak calmly and tactfully. Carefully edit what you say before you say it. — Zelig Pliskin

Vincent came within inches of her face. "You are a rare beauty, Sheirah." He drifted his eyes over her face. "But I shall not give you, or anyone my blood willingly or otherwise. I have made far too many mistakes to trust the likes of someone I have just met."
Meadow gazed into Vincent's eyes and smiled wryly. "You tell me the truth, archangel. For if you spoke to me lies, I would have known. — Madison Thorne Grey

This is a f***ing mess," I said tactfully. — John Elder Robison

Mr S. got angry.
'Yes, I do have a son. He's a good-for-nothing. A dead loss.'
I couldn't ask which prison he was in, so I put it more tactfully: 'What is he doing?'
He sighed deeply: 'He's a professor of mathematics at London University. — George Mikes

Some people cannot bear the truth, no matter how tactfully it is told. No doubt the haughty, the tyrannical, the unmerciful, the impure and the fomentors of discord take a fierce exception to the Sermon on the Mount. — Mary Church Terrell

If I ever did cross over I would like to do it tactfully. I don't want to offend anyone in country. Can you have the best of both worlds? I sure like the idea of it! — Bryan White

What I suffered in contemplating his happiness, pen cannot describe. — Mark Twain

When I was a child," Theodora said lazily, "'
many years ago,' Doctor, as you put it so tactfully
I was whipped for throwing a brick through a greenhouse roof. I remember I thought about if for a long time, remembering the whipping but remembering also the lovely crash, and after thinking about it very seriously I went out and did it again. — Shirley Jackson

I come from a background of experimental music which mingled real sounds together with musical sounds. — Ennio Morricone

It's only through the degradation of the soul that you can know who you really are; when all else is stripped away, leaving you bare." Somehow, his black eyes darkened, the venom in his words more deadly than a viper's bite. "Let me degrade you, Katherine. — Dianna Hardy

Idleness only leads to bad deeds — Magnus Stenbock

The hell with all of you, you cooperative fellowship of idiots, united by a common goal which none of you understand. And the hell with me too.' This time the others, following Cahir's example, also remained tactfully silent. Dandelion, Maria Barring, also known as Milva, and Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy. 'What a company I ended up with,' Geralt continued, shaking his head. 'Brothers in arms! A team of heroes! What have I done to deserve it? A poetaster with a lute. A wild and lippy half-dryad, half-woman. A vampire, who's about to notch up his fifth century. And a bloody Nilfgaardian who insists he isn't a Nilfgaardian.' 'And — Andrzej Sapkowski

How do you tactfully spin the term "man-whore" to someone's sister? — Elle Lothlorien

Maybe even Mom wouldn't get it - why I doubt. Why I question. Maybe no one can understand what this feels like but me. I touch my neck, the spot where the cross charm hangs on Mom's neck. No one can understand because ... they really don't know any better than I do. No matter what they think, how sure they are they've got everything figured out, they're as in the dark as I am. — Jackson Pearce

Rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil-but there is no way around them. — Isaac Asimov

I do not approach my life tactfully at all, i'm incredibly impulsive and I am definitely an intense weirdo. I love living and I love people. They trip me out and I want to know more about them all the time. That isn't something I can turn off and on. — Kristen Stewart

And it was difficult to imagine what answer Earth could possibly send, except a tactfully sympathetic, "Good-bye. — Arthur C. Clarke

Stop arguing with people. Let go of your anger. It doesn't matter who wins arguments, who was right or wrong. Nobody really wins, especially in stupid political disputes. Arguing and anger are just another kind of war, and trust me, war is terrible."
"So your mission... is to forgive someone." p.236 — Trent Reedy

You haven't seen your father since you were eight?'
He shook his head.
'No word. No contact. No nothing?'
'Nothing.'
Daisy's eyes looked right and left before coming back to his. 'Is he alive?'
Erik turned looked into the blue-green eyes studying him so intently. He was surprised he had revealed this to someone he barely knew. Normally this was the card he kept closest to his chest. Yet something about Daisy looking at him, her expression calm and interested, sympathetic but not pitying, tactfully curious, seemed to be reaching into the tangle of emotions comprising the experience of being so cruelly deserted, and gently drawing out a thread. — Suanne Laqueur

Nothing gets on other people's nerves at the office more than a whistler. And the sad part is, these whistlers don't know they're doing it. Someone should, tactfully, tell the whistler how much it disrupts the office environment. — Letitia Baldrige

Lose yourself in nature and find peace — Ralph Waldo Emerson

What an absolute scumbag. What an absolutely, perfectly sculpted, beautifully smelling . . . scumbag. — Madeline Sheehan

Should he be advised to come home, to transplant his life and resume all the old friendships- nothing prevented this- and generally rely on the help of friends? But all this would mean to him, and the more tactfully it was put the more offensive it would be, was that his every effort had been for naught, and he should finally abandon them, that he should return home and suffer being viewed by everyone as the prodigal returned forever, that only his friends had any understanding of things, and that he was a big child who must simply listen to those friends who had remained home and been successful. — Franz Kafka

My mum taught me always to see the funny side of things. — Michelle Dockery

That meant when I wasn't happy about something, I spoke up, often directly and not always tactfully. — Randy Pausch

Becky, Freya, and Chloe weren't for me, Marney," Maverick says tactfully. Actually, now my heart is pounding. He lays a hand on my shoulder. "Windsor isn't like them. She's not like anyone, because she is the one. My one. Why did I pick her? I'm lucky she picked me, honestly. She's real. I owe her more than rattling off the never-ending list of why she's the one for me, so I'm shutting my fucking mouth. All you need to know is I'm hers. Make her feel welcome. — Rachel Robinson

Brotha needed to buy a vowel and rent a verb, then get a roll of duct tape slapped on that broken English. — Eric Jerome Dickey

They say a name expresses the thing it stands for, but I wonder if it isn't the other way around - the thing gets more and more like its name. — Haruki Murakami

I'd rather work with a grassroots organization than in politics. I'm not sure I'd be the best politician because I don't think I'm good about tactfully tiptoeing around questions in the right way. — Lauren Mayberry

When the Russian delegate this summer indicated the Soviet Union's interest in sending medical equipment, Dr Shigeto went right away to see the delegate and settle the matter tactfully. He is careful to steer clear of the superficial swirl of political maneuvering, but never misses any opportunity to improve the capability of the A-bomb Hospital or to enhance concretely the welfare of the patients. In that sense, he sometimes refers to himself as a 'dirty handkerchief.' That is, he serves to filter political purposes out of relief efforts so that the effect on patients is purely and concretely humane. — Kenzaburo Oe