Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“A sensible polite person does not assume to be better or wiser or richer than his neighbour.”
- Source
- Character
- Date
- 1871
Meaning of “A sensible polite person does not assume to…”
Smiles connects humility with ordinary social behavior: modest conduct resists turning differences in knowledge, wealth, rank or achievement into claims of personal superiority over other people.
Where does it come from?
Character, Chapter IX, “Manner—Art,” Project Gutenberg #2541. Smiles places the sentence in his discussion of politeness as respect for the personality and circumstances of others, then describes the well-mannered person as modest, unpretentious and more interested in doing than boasting.
