Showing posts with label Manners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manners. Show all posts

Sunday, February 22, 2009

On Being a Gentleman


A Gentleman at Breakfast, 1775, attributed to Henry Walton

I have a great big book called The Compleat Gentleman by Geoffrey Beard and in it he quotes sixteenth century writer Baldassare Castiglione on "the attitudes of any gentleman: of not hurting the feelings of others, of not making making them feel inferior, of behaving with ease and grace, and of experiencing proper joy in the wonders of true love and service."