Quentin Crisp

"Of course I lie to people. But I lie altruistically – for our mutual good. The lie is the basic building block of good manners. That may seem mildly shocking to a moralist – but then what isn’t?"

"I am more concerned with how manners can be employed to cope with, or outwit, the affronts of racism, sexism, hooliganism – and the terrible things people do to one another in the name of love."

 – Quentin Crisp, 
Manners from Heaven (1985)