Sydney Owenson/Lady Morgan on Manners in The Wild Irish Girl

"Manners, like the graduated scale of the thermometer, should betray, by degrees, the expansion or contraction of the feelings, as they are warmed by emotion or chilled by indifference. They should breathe the soul in order to win it."

I'm fascinated by the notion that being well-mannered does not merely mean being kind, nice, or tolerant-- that we communicate through manners.