Manners Archives - Jewish Quotations

"Fine manners are the oil that lubricates social contacts…Ability is adorned by nothing as much as by affability." ~~ Rabbi Leon Harrison

"A man without grace is as a tale out of season." ~~ Ben Sira 20:14

"If you do a man a favor, do not regard it as a debt he must repay!" ~~ Mishle Shua’lim

"Too honor an old man one should not sit in his place or contradict his words." ~~ Rashi

"Talk not while you eat, lest windpipe anticipate gullet (and life be in danger)!" ~~ Talmud, Ta’anit

"In the midst of a discourse, speak not." ~~ Apocrypha: Ben Sira

"Do not dishonor the old: we shall all be numbered among them." ~~ Ben Sira

"A man who does not want to buy should not say to a vendor: “How much does this thing cost?”" ~~ Derekh Eretz

"The junior may not sit down until the senior says: Be seated!" ~~ Talmud Yerushalmi, Ketubot

"If a great man said it, do not laugh at it!" ~~ Talmud, Berakhot

"Without manners no Torah, without Torah no manners." ~~ Eleazar b. Azariah, Mishna: Avot

"If a guest enters your home, ask him no quesitons of the Torah unless you know that he can answer! " ~~ Sefer Chassidim