Pleasantries Quotes

“I sort of thought that maybe people had to talk that way, sort of saying the same things over and over because that way they can get along together without thinking." She stopped and thought. Why I was so worried,” she said, “was because if people didn't say those damn things over and over, then they wouldn't talk to each other at all.”
― Shirley Jackson, Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories

“My soul never thinks of beginning to wake up for other people till lunch-time, and never does so completely till it has been taken out of doors and aired in the sunshine.”
― Elizabeth von Arnim, Elizabeth and Her German Garden

“...my soul never thinks of beginning to wake up for other people till lunch-time, and never does so completely till it has been taken out of doors and aired in the sunshine.”
― Elizabeth von Arnim, Elizabeth and Her German Garden

“Tribute to the dead is meaningless. Corpses are 3D – dead, deaf and dumb. Only the living can appreciate their tributes. If only we tell the living the sweet things we tell their corpses, some would have lived longer or happier. If you have swallowed pleasantries to your beloved ones, start vomiting them right away to avoid food poisoning or constipation. When do you prefer your tribute, dead or alive?”
― Vincent Okay Nwachukwu, Weighty 'n' Worthy African Proverbs - Volume 1

“You asked me how I was doing, another social pleasantry. No one wants an honest answer to that one.”
― Margaret Atwood, Old Babes in the Wood: Stories