Courtesy

Courtesy

Courtesy comes from old French 'courteis' (12th century) and is gentle politeness and courtly manners. In the Middle Ages in Europe, the behaviour expected of the gentry was compiled in courtesy books. One of the most influential of these was Il Cortegiano (The Courtier) which not only covered basic etiquette and decorum but also provided models of sophisticated conversation and intellectual skill.

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Famous quotes containing the word courtesy:

    “No rent-roll nor army-list can dignify skulking and dissimulation: and the first point of courtesy must always be truth, as really all the forms of good-breeding point that way.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “When courtesy fails, be nasty, brutish, and short.”
    —Mason Cooley (b. 1927)