“ Good manners are an admission that everybody is so tender that they have to be handled with gloves. ”
F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender Is the Night (1934). copy citation
| Author | F. Scott Fitzgerald |
|---|---|
| Source | Tender Is the Night |
| Topic | glove delicacy manners |
| Date | 1934 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301261h.html |
Context
“Doctor Diver's profession of sorting the broken shells of another sort of egg had given him a dread of breakage. But:
"There's too much good manners," he said on the way back to Gstaad in the smooth sleigh. "Well, I think that's nice," said Baby. "No, it isn't," he insisted to the anonymous bundle of fur. "Good manners are an admission that everybody is so tender that they have to be handled with gloves. Now, human respect—you don't call a man a coward or a liar lightly, but if you spend your life sparing people's feelings and feeding their vanity, you get so you can't distinguish what should be respected in them."” source
"There's too much good manners," he said on the way back to Gstaad in the smooth sleigh. "Well, I think that's nice," said Baby. "No, it isn't," he insisted to the anonymous bundle of fur. "Good manners are an admission that everybody is so tender that they have to be handled with gloves. Now, human respect—you don't call a man a coward or a liar lightly, but if you spend your life sparing people's feelings and feeding their vanity, you get so you can't distinguish what should be respected in them."” source
Meaning and analysis
