I don't ever knock anybody; that's bad manners.
— Letitia Baldrige
Writers on etiquette receive a continuous flow of questions on subjects such as 'When is it too early in the season to wear white accessories?' and 'What is the proper gift to send to a family in mourning?'
You'd be surprised how much easier it is to conduct business over tea than over lunch or dinner in a bustling restaurant.
If you are someone's guest on a corporate jet, the most important thing to remember is not just to be on time, but to be early. If you hold up the departure of the jet by as much as 10 minutes, you may cause the plane to wait in line for another hour or two before obtaining new clearance.
Good manners are cost effective. They not only increase the quality of life in the workplace, they contribute to employee morale, embellish the company image, and play a major role in generating profit.
I'm for anything that teaches consideration and kindness. If one can teach one's son to dance with the ugliest little girl in the room, that's the best lesson they can ever learn.
Manners make the world work. They're not only based on kindness but also efficiency. When people know what to do, the world is smoother. When no one knows what to do, it's chaos.
Nothing ruins the flow of conversation more quickly than refusing a compliment you have just received. Never disagree with something nice that is said to you or about you.
It's nice to compliment people on what they're wearing, but don't make insincere compliments.
Before the Kennedys were elected, there had been older Presidents. Then here was this devastatingly attractive young couple with two beautiful children. They were so intelligent, graceful, gracious and funny. They enjoyed life so much. That's what caught America's eye.
If you take five taxis a day, one driver will be nasty, and the other four are perfectly nice. You remember the nasty one. But you should remember the four who were nice.
When in doubt, look at what everyone else is doing.
I've had three broken legs and two knee replacements. But I'm very good at apres golf.
CEOs are called by their first names by young whippersnappers. That makes everybody uncomfortable. We need order and structure back in the workplace.
We're a nation of latchkey children. Manners start at home, and no one is at home teaching manners so that children have respect for others.
I don't care what your politics are, I would wager that if you asked any American woman which administration would she have most liked to work for as social secretary, she would pick Jacqueline Kennedy's White House as the place to be.
For years, people have re-dialed when the line was busy. They waited their turn. When I'm put on hold, I always hope that as my revenge, their other call will be someone wanting to sell them something.
If the flu situation in your town is serious, cancel a large long-awaited party you had scheduled, but promise the guests in an e-mail that you will reschedule the party as soon as possible.
I'm a businesswoman, and Ms. is an appropriate form of address.
Business colleagues who have not seen each other for a long time but who have a good relationship can always shake hands warmly and grab each other's right upper arm or shoulder with their free left hand. Men and women executives should not kiss each other in public.
For every step forward in electronic communications, we've taken two steps back in humanity. People know how to use a computer and answering machines but have forgotten how to connect with one another. Our society is unraveling. We're too self-obsessed.
Chivalry isn't dead. It's just no longer gender-based.
I never made any money, but I had the best jobs in the world.
Most people don't know how to take compliments. That's the biggest problem in America - we're hesitant to give compliments and embarrassed at getting them.
When you pass 70, you forget your enemies. You think about the nice people instead.
If somebody is disrespecting somebody, we should step in - even at the risk of getting slugged over the head.
A really first-class company uses really fine stationery.
We are not passing values on to our children. We are not sitting down at the dinner table talking about the tiny things that add up to caring human beings.
If you care enough to look right, you care enough to act right. And vice versa.
At home, we're listening to TV or playing with our computers, so our entertaining is rusting. We don't know how to be good hosts and guests in business situations.
If you really screw up, send roses.
For every rude executive who makes it to the top, there are nine successful executives with good manners.
A bride is a bride the first time around. The white dress and the white veil are symbolic. So many people are breaking the rules that people don't know what the rules are.
Everybody forgets names and faces, and it's just inconsiderate to expect someone who isn't your boss or your sister-in-law to know exactly who you are.
Look at all those unattractive people talking about depraved things all day long on TV talk shows. People can talk about themselves, yet the art of conversation, which has to do with sharing, is disappearing. I feel as though I am chasing a runaway locomotive.
Knowing when and where to sit is something every young executive should learn. A junior person who comes barging into a room and takes any seat he wants catches the disapproving eye of senior management.
Manners are nothing more than thinking about somebody else.
When writing a thank-you if you've had lunch with someone downtown, send an e-mail. If somebody is giving you a dinner party in his or her home and all the work that takes, that person deserves a written thank-you.
I think that what we should do is have short, clipped conversations on the telephone so someone can always get us, not talking about inane stuff and having someone trying to get you. I also think we've just got to be more sensitive toward other people and not call them at night if you know they've been working.
When someone is wearing a dress that makes her look fat, don't say 'That's a great dress.' It always comes off badly.
It behooves everyone to move forward, think forward.
We ought to be vigilantes for kindness and consideration.
There is so much bad manners and oafishness in large corporations.
I've become a master of the apology.
If golfers know they look good, they will play better. I think that is valid for men and women.
The polished executive is ultimately the happy executive who can walk gracefully through life.
I have grandchildren who are going to need every cent I make.
There are major CEOs who do not know how to hold a knife and fork properly, but I don't worry about that as much as the lack of kindness.
