Pride, ill nature, and want of sense, are the three great sources of ill manners.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Bad behavior stems from arrogance, poor temperament, and lack of intelligence.
- In plain terms
- Bad manners come from pride, bad temper, and ignorance.
- What can you take from it?
- Cultivate humility and empathy to improve conduct.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What drives rude behavior?
- How can you improve your manners?
Another view
Some bad manners stem from stress rather than character.
More from Jonathan Swift
Pedantry is properly the over-rating of any kind of knowledge we pretend to.
Permalink to quote #34 I can discover no political evil in suffering bullies, sharpers, and rakes, to rid the world of each other by a method of their own; where the law hath not bee…
Permalink to quote #36 Good manners is the art of making those people easy with whom we converse. Whoever makes the fewest persons uneasy is the best bred in the company.
Permalink to quote #33
Related quotes
Her air, her manners, all who saw admir'd; Courteous though coy, and gentle though retir'd; The joy of youth and health her eyes display'd, And ease of heart h…
George CrabbeGeorge Crabbe quote #6 She was a woman who, between courses, could be graceful with her elbows on the table.
Henry JamesHenry James quote #37 The test of a man or woman's breeding is how they behave in a quarrel.
George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw quote #37