The rules of etiquette are not always used for the good.  There is a long history of the aristocratic use of the rules of civilized conduct to exclude and ostracize those from a lower social position.  While anyone can learn...

Oscar Wilde famously said: “The world was my oyster, but I used the wrong fork.”  He wasn’t really talking about manners, per se, but his expression still reflects something both peculiar and yet important about the rules of etiquette. What on...

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said that “[a] man’s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.”  How we conduct ourselves in the company of others reveals a great deal about the kind of person that we are.  They...

Mark Twain once wrote that “Laws control the lesser man. Right conduct controls the greater.”  One of the unique things about manners is that although they are a sort of “rules,” they are, in the end, only self-imposed.  They are a...

Sometimes it seems as though good manners have gotten a bad rap these days.  That the vulgar and unrefined is celebrated far more than the decent and polite.  Whether in business and politics or show business and the arts, the...

Yesterday, we observed that the primary civic institution is the family.  And while it is true that we cannot neglect our obligations to that first and most fundamental institution, we all still have civic duties that extend beyond it. In...

Thu 3/7/2024 8:08 AM One of the errors we contemporary Americans are prone to make is to confuse civics with politics.  We often think of civics entirely in terms of government institutions, voting for political candidates, asserting our constitutional rights,...

The Federalist Papers were a series of essays, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, under the penname Publius.  They were an attempt to persuade the newly independent American states to ratify—that is, vote to approve—the Constitution.  While...

Tue 3/5/2024 9:11 AM This week we’re talking about civics. Americans love to speak of self-government.   We’re proud of the fact that we exchanged the despotism of King George III for a representative government in the form of a democratic...

This week, we will consider the subject of civics, which is the study of the rights and responsibilities of citizens.  It is not just for people who are into politics or philosophy.  You all will study civics in your time here at...