Insightful precepts of civil social behavior; as applicable now as ever.

As a young schoolboy in Virginia, George Washington took his first steps toward greatness by copying out by hand a list of 110 'Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.' Based on a 16th-century set of precepts compiled for young gentlemen by Jesuit instructors, the Rules of Civility were one of the earliest and most powerful forces to shape America's first president....

Most of the rules are concerned with details of etiquette, offering pointers on such issues as how to dress, walk, eat in public and address one's superiors. But in the introduction to the newly published Rules of Civility: The 110 Precepts That Guided Our First President in War and Peace, Brookhiser warns against dismissing the maxims as "mere" etiquette. "The rules address moral issues, but they address them indirectly," [he] writes. "They seek to form the inner man (or boy) by shaping the outer."

Washington was truly a great man.

Thanks for posting this at this appropriate time.

Good stuff Jason, thanks...

Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present.

I wish this were the rule and not the exception

"20. The gestures of the body must be suited to the discourse you are upon."

Body language says it all!