Precept & Practice – MAY 25 – Manners
Manners are an art. Some are perfect, some commendable, some faulty; but there are none that are of no moment. How comes it that we have no precepts by which to judge them, or, at least, no rule whereby to judge them, as we judge sculpture and music? A science of manners would be more important to the virtue and happiness of men than one would suppose. If virtue leads to good manners, so do they in their turn lead to virtue. Manners are an essential part of ethics. We should, therefore, adopt on every occasion graceful, simple, suitable manners in our strivings after sublime wisdom.
Joubert
What is the test of good manners?
It is the being able to put up pleasantly with bad ones.
Manners give the whole form and colour to our lives.
Burke
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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice
The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.
The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;- with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;- with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.
CONSTANCE M. WHISHAW
Suffolk Vicar 