--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The unwritten rules of behaviour are…" description: "\"The unwritten rules of behaviour are infinite in number, finely shaded, and subtle to the last fraction of a degree. They are not to be broken. If brok..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/260/hal-porter-38760_air_the-unwritten-rules-of-behaviour-are-inf_1231579.png" --- # The unwritten rules of behaviour are infinite in number… ![“The unwritten rules of behaviour are infinite in number, finely shaded, and subtle to the last fraction of a degree. They are not to be broken. If broken, the rules of forgiveness leading to re-establishment are equally of air and iron. I learn these rules with rather less ease than my…” quote by Hal Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/260/hal-porter-38760_air_the-unwritten-rules-of-behaviour-are-inf_1231579.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/260/hal-porter-38760_air_the-unwritten-rules-of-behaviour-are-inf_1231579.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/260/hal-porter-38760_air_the-unwritten-rules-of-behaviour-are-inf_1231579.png) > “The unwritten rules of behaviour are infinite in number, finely shaded, and subtle to the last fraction of a degree. They are not to be broken. If broken, the rules of forgiveness leading to re-establishment are equally of air and iron. I learn these rules with rather less ease than my contemporaries because, in the back streets of my being, a duel is developing and increasing in fervour between my instinct which knows why something is so, and my hen-pecking intelligence which wishes to analyse why something is so.” [Hal Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Social norms are countless, nuanced, and fragile; breaking them triggers a complex forgiveness process that balances flexibility and rigidity. **In simple terms:** Rules are many and delicate; breaking them needs careful repair. Key Takeaway Respect and navigate subtle norms. Themes social etiquette forgiveness psychology conflict self-awareness Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical advice When to use this quote - personal relationships - workplace dynamics - cross‑cultural interactions - conflict resolution Key Concepts norms moral flexibility cognitive dissonance Questions to Reflect On - How do you decide when to forgive a broken norm? - When is flexibility more valuable than strictness? A Different Perspective Forgiveness may be uneven, leaving lingering resentment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Behaviour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/behaviour/) [Establishment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/establishment/) [Forgiveness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forgiveness/) [Habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits/) [Instinct](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instinct/) [Streets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/streets/) [Unwritten rules](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unwritten-rules/) [Wish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wish/) ## Related quotes > [These are party-sanctioned debates. This is a presidential election, you show up at the debates. These are the rules. We have a series of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-grim/these-are-party-sanctioned-debates-this-is-a-presidential-election/) [Ryan Grim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-grim/) > [This place is full of unwritten rules.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-gordon-smith/this-place-is-full-of-unwritten-rules/) [Alexander Gordon Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-gordon-smith/) > [I've been in this game since I was a kid, and I know a lot of unwritten rules.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-tatis-jr/i-ve-been-in-this-game-since-i-was-a-kid-and-i-know-a-lot-of/) [Fernando Tatis Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-tatis-jr/) > [There's a kind of unwritten rule: Don't say anything at all, and everything will be fine. It's a producer's medium. The directors aren't there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-carlyle/there-s-a-kind-of-unwritten-rule-don-t-say-anything-at-all-and/) [Robert Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-carlyle/) > [There seems to be an unwritten rule on Wall Street: If you don't understand it, then put your life savings into it. Shun the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-lynch/there-seems-to-be-an-unwritten-rule-on-wall-street-if-you-don-t/) [Peter Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-lynch/) > [Networking is the No. 1 unwritten rule of success in business.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallie-krawcheck/networking-is-the-no-1-unwritten-rule-of-success-in-business/) [Sallie Krawcheck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallie-krawcheck/) > [One of the unwritten rules in a presidential news conference is that he'll answer questions. If he chooses not to, there's not much you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-ifill/one-of-the-unwritten-rules-in-a-presidential-news-conference-is-that/) [Gwen Ifill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-ifill/) > [Economic theorists, like French chefs in regard to food, have developed stylized models whose ingredients are limited by some unwritten rules. Just as traditional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-akerlof/economic-theorists-like-french-chefs-in-regard-to-food-have-developed/) George Akerlof > [When they were making black films in the '60s and the '70s, everyone knew their place, if you get my drift. You understand? Everyone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-mooney/when-they-were-making-black-films-in-the-60s-and-the-70s-everyone/) [Paul Mooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-mooney/) > [,000 people in Hampden Park. Of course they're all Scottish. Because no one else goes there. The English have an unwritten rule: they only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-connolly/000-people-in-hampden-park-of-course-they-re-all-scottish-because-no/) [Billy Connolly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-connolly/) > [There's kind of an unwritten rule, Don't call your captain out at a Ryder Cup, win, loss or draw, you just don't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graeme-mcdowell/there-s-kind-of-an-unwritten-rule-don-t-call-your-captain-out-at-a/) [Graeme McDowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graeme-mcdowell/) > [“You could say that everything had become weirdly distorted because I'd broken the rules so many times.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fuminori-nakamura/you-could-say-that-everything-had-become-weirdly-distorted-because-i/) [Fuminori Nakamura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fuminori-nakamura/) > [The rule maker are the first of all broken rules thinking that:Rules are for other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/the-rule-maker-are-the-first-of-all-broken-rules-thinking-that-rules/) Mak\_786 > [“It was all my fault. I'd let them in, I'd broken my rules, and I was back at square fucking one!"- Jocelyn Butler”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samantha-young/it-was-all-my-fault-i-d-let-them-in-i-d-broken-my-rules-and-i-was/) [Samantha Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samantha-young/) > [I had always broken the rules.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-hutton/i-had-always-broken-the-rules/) [Lauren Hutton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-hutton/) ## More by Hal Porter > [The Australian form of self-respect, however rough-and-ready, heart-of-gold, come-and-take-pot-luck-with-us, and matily extrovert it is, essentially, genteel, ingrowing, self-pitying, vanilla-ice-cream hearted, its central fear a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/the-australian-form-of-self-respect-however-rough-and-ready-heart-of/) [Hal Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/) > [Now, I can smile at the stock quality of these friends, these uniforms. these looking-glasses, these sharers. Each is a character lifted straight from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/now-i-can-smile-at-the-stock-quality-of-these-friends-these-uniforms/) [Hal Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/) > [I cannot consider fighting in competitive Manly Fun any more than I can consider pitting my running, swimming or climbing body against other bodies.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/i-cannot-consider-fighting-in-competitive-manly-fun-any-more-than-i/) [Hal Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/) > [The heat is searing and superb. The paddocks surrounding the town are bleached blond. The distant ring-barked gums, mile after mile, wriggle in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/the-heat-is-searing-and-superb-the-paddocks-surrounding-the-town-are/) [Hal Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/) > [This silent cry is of ecstasy for what has been done, and of despair at being forestalled, and being thus forewarned, that neither This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/this-silent-cry-is-of-ecstasy-for-what-has-been-done-and-of-despair/) [Hal Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/) > [While still sixteen I am put in charge of a class of forty children who are two, three or four years younger than I.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/while-still-sixteen-i-am-put-in-charge-of-a-class-of-forty-children/) [Hal Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/) > [I immediately cotton on to the fact that intelligence thus lightly used, and one-upmanshipishly displayed, is a birthmark giving me a two-coloured face, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/i-immediately-cotton-on-to-the-fact-that-intelligence-thus-lightly/) [Hal Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/) > [How ruthless and vile and hard and right the young are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/how-ruthless-and-vile-and-hard-and-right-the-young-are/) [Hal Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/) > [Indeed, so deep is my pleasure in the work of the garden that, if there be a dimension after death in which grieving for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/indeed-so-deep-is-my-pleasure-in-the-work-of-the-garden-that-if-there/) [Hal Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/) > [Next, suddenly, lightning suddenly, while I am still a child, a branch is lopped from my being, and a portion of my childhood ends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/next-suddenly-lightning-suddenly-while-i-am-still-a-child-a-branch-is/) [Hal Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/) [Explore all 11 Hal Porter quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/) ## More Air quotes > [I will be a tireless advocate for our District's defense priorities including Sheppard Air Force Base, Pantex, Bell Helicopter, universities conducting important research, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronny-jackson/i-will-be-a-tireless-advocate-for-our-district-s-defense-priorities/) [Ronny Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronny-jackson/) > [I have lifted my plane . . . for perhaps a thousand flights and I have never felt her wheels glide from the Earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beryl-markham/i-have-lifted-my-plane-for-perhaps-a-thousand-flights-and-i-have/) [Beryl Markham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beryl-markham/) > [If U.S. air, naval, missile, and ground forces were not in and around Korea, and if we were not treaty-bound to fight alongside South…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-buchanan/if-u-s-air-naval-missile-and-ground-forces-were-not-in-and-around/) [Pat Buchanan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-buchanan/) > [The cooler days have brought a wistful mood upon him. The smell of coalsmoke in the air at night. Old times, dead years. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/the-cooler-days-have-brought-a-wistful-mood-upon-him-the-smell-of/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [It's easy to say, let's go in and get the bad guys. But you have a divided country of Sunnis and Shias. The United…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tulsi-gabbard/it-s-easy-to-say-let-s-go-in-and-get-the-bad-guys-but-you-have-a/) [Tulsi Gabbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tulsi-gabbard/) > [I'm a candle flame that sways in currents of air you can't see. You need to be the one who steadies me to burn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/i-m-a-candle-flame-that-sways-in-currents-of-air-you-can-t-see-you/) [Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/) > [It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/it-is-sometimes-said-that-scientists-are-unromantic-that-their/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [ Just between you and me, shouldn’t the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs \[Less Developed Countries\]?... I… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-summers/just-between-you-and-me-shouldn-t-the-world-bank-be-encouraging-more/) [Lawrence Summers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-summers/) > [After a few mouthfuls of moon-flavored air, even the stubbornly drowsy can find themselves wide-eyed.. All the normal noises of life were gone, leaving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-d-wilson/after-a-few-mouthfuls-of-moon-flavored-air-even-the-stubbornly-drowsy/) [N.D. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-d-wilson/) > [There was a little nook on Air Force Two that contained the vice presidential seal, and I would sort of wedge myself in there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-biden/there-was-a-little-nook-on-air-force-two-that-contained-the-vice/) [Jill Biden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-biden/) > [Words are substance strange. Speak one and the air ripples into another's ears. Write one and the eye laps it up. But the sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-beachy-quick/words-are-substance-strange-speak-one-and-the-air-ripples-into/) [Dan Beachy-Quick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-beachy-quick/) > [ \[A\]s you partake of the world's bill of fare, that's darned good advice to follow. Do a lot of spitting out the hot air.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-seuss/a-s-you-partake-of-the-world-s-bill-of-fare-that-s-darned-good-advice/) [Dr. Seuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-seuss/) > [...As the disparity between the rich and the poor grows, the fight to corner resources is intensifying. To push through their "sweetheart deals," to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/as-the-disparity-between-the-rich-and-the-poor-grows-the-fight-to/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [Washington bureaucrats have classified the very air we exhale as a pollutant and have gone unchallenged in this incredible assertion. The logical consequence is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-paul/washington-bureaucrats-have-classified-the-very-air-we-exhale-as-a/) [Ron Paul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-paul/) > [“It is unnatural to fear something natural.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/it-is-unnatural-to-fear-something-natural/) [Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/) Browse all 6,278 Air quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The unwritten rules of behaviour are infinite in number, finely shaded, and subtle to the last fraction of a degree. They are not to be broken. If broken, the rules of forgiveness leading to re-establishment are equally of air and iron. I learn these rules with rather less ease than my contemporaries because, in the back streets of my being, a duel is developing and increasing in fervour between my instinct which knows why something is so, and my hen-pecking intelligence which wishes to analyse why something is so.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Hal Porter" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/the-unwritten-rules-of-behaviour-are-infinite-in-number-finely-shaded/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Air" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/the-unwritten-rules-of-behaviour-are-infinite-in-number-finely-shaded/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/260/hal-porter-38760_air_the-unwritten-rules-of-behaviour-are-inf_1231579.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/260/hal-porter-38760_air_the-unwritten-rules-of-behaviour-are-inf_1231579.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/260/hal-porter-38760_air_the-unwritten-rules-of-behaviour-are-inf_1231579.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The unwritten rules of behaviour are infinite in number, finely shaded, and subtle to the last fraction of a…” — Hal Porter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Hal Porter", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-porter/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The unwritten rules of behaviour are...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/the-unwritten-rules-of-behaviour-are-infinite-in-number-finely-shaded/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-porter/the-unwritten-rules-of-behaviour-are-infinite-in-number-finely-shaded/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```