--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In truth, politeness is artificial good…" description: "\"In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the r..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a5/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-h_2051140.jpg" --- # In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers… ![“In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue. It is the practice of sacrificing to those whom we meet in society, all the little inconveniences and preferences which will gratify…” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a5/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-h_2051140.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a5/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-h_2051140.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a5/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-h_2051140.jpg) > “In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue. It is the practice of sacrificing to those whom we meet in society, all the little inconveniences and preferences which will gratify them, and deprive us of nothing worth a moment's consideration; it is the giving a pleasing and flattering turn to our expressions, which will conciliate others, and make them pleased with us as well as themselves. How cheap a price for the good will of another!” [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Politeness masks true motives, offering flattery that pleases others while costing nothing, yet it substitutes genuine virtue with superficial courtesy. **In simple terms:** Politeness is cheap flattery that feels good. Key Takeaway Use sincere respect instead of empty courtesy. Themes social etiquette virtue authenticity interpersonal relations Mood thoughtful reflective Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - business meetings - dinner parties - customer service - networking events Key Concepts moral philosophy social behavior psychology Questions to Reflect On - Do you rely on politeness or honesty in conflict? - How does flattery affect genuine relationships? A Different Perspective Politeness can become insincere, eroding trust if overused. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Artificial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial/) [Artificial Good](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial-good-3589495/) [Consideration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consideration/) [Ends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ends/) [Expression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expression/) [Expressions Conciliate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expressions-conciliate-3866579/) [Flattering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flattering/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Good humor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-humor/) [Good will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-will/) [Habitual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habitual/) [Humor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humor/) [Inconvenience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inconvenience/) [Littles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/littles/) [Manners](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/manners/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Natural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Politeness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politeness/) [Politeness Artificial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politeness-artificial-3866577/) [Practice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practice/) [Preference](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/preference/) [Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real/) [Rendering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rendering/) [Sacrifice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sacrifice/) [Substitutes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/substitutes/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Truth Politeness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth-politeness-3866578/) [Turns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/turns/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) [Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wells/) ## Related quotes > [In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-humor-it-covers-the-natural-2/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Politeness has been defined to be artificial good-nature; but we may affirm, with much greater propriety, that good-nature is natural politeness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanis-aw-i-leszczy-ski/politeness-has-been-defined-to-be-artificial-good-nature-but-we-may/) [Stanisław I Leszczyński](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanis-aw-i-leszczy-ski/) > [A determination never to do what is wrong, prudence, and good-humor, will go far toward securing to you the estimation of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-determination-never-to-do-what-is-wrong-prudence-and-good-humor/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [What i value more than all things, good humor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/what-i-value-more-than-all-things-good-humor/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Good humor is one of the preservatives of our peace and tranquility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/good-humor-is-one-of-the-preservatives-of-our-peace-and-tranquility/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Above all things, and at all times, practice yourself in good humor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/above-all-things-and-at-all-times-practice-yourself-in-good-humor/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government. Public servants at such a distance, and from under…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/our-country-is-too-large-to-have-all-its-affairs-directed-by-a-single/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [ But of all the views of this law \[universal education\] none is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/but-of-all-the-views-of-this-law-universal-education-none-is-more/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight. But the enormities of the times in which I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/nature-intended-me-for-the-tranquil-pursuits-of-science-by-rendering-2/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science by rendering them my supreme delight.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/nature-intended-me-for-the-tranquil-pursuits-of-science-by-rendering/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Were I to prescribe a rule for drinking, it should be formed upon a saying quoted by Sir William Temple: the first glass for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/were-i-to-prescribe-a-rule-for-drinking-it-should-be-formed-upon-a/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/few-people-know-how-to-take-a-walk-the-qualifications-are-endurance/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [French wines may be said but to pickle meat in the stomach, but this is the wine that digests, and doth not only breed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-howell/french-wines-may-be-said-but-to-pickle-meat-in-the-stomach-but-this/) [James Howell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-howell/) > [A good since of humor and someone who is loyal and cute-I like cute girls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-styles/a-good-since-of-humor-and-someone-who-is-loyal-and-cute-i-like-cute/) [Harry Styles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-styles/) > [Time is never more misspent than while we declaim against the want of it; all our actions are then tinctured with peevishness. The yoke…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-georg-ritter-von-zimmermann/time-is-never-more-misspent-than-while-we-declaim-against-the-want-of/) [Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-georg-ritter-von-zimmermann/) ## More by Thomas Jefferson > [A man has a right to use a saw, an axe, a plane, separately; may he not combine their uses on the same piece…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-man-has-a-right-to-use-a-saw-an-axe-a-plane-separately-may-he-not/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [ \[States and the Federal government are\] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/states-and-the-federal-government-are-coordinate-departments-of-one/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/i-am-for-freedom-of-religion-and-against-all-maneuvers-to-bring-about/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/single-acts-of-tyranny-may-be-ascribed-to-the-accidental-opinion-of-a/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“Perceiving the order of nature to be that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue, I am willing to hope it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/perceiving-the-order-of-nature-to-be-that-individual-happiness-shall/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/free-government-is-founded-in-jealousy-and-not-in-confidence-it-is/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/though-you-cannot-see-when-you-take-one-step-what-will-be-the-next/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-well-informed-citizenry-is-the-best-defense-against-tyranny/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. After the injuries we have done them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-two-principles-on-which-our-conduct-towards-the-indians-should-be/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Knowledge is power...knowled ge is safety...knowle dge is happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/knowledge-is-power-knowled-ge-is-safety-knowle-dge-is-happiness/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [There is... an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/there-is-an-artificial-aristocracy-founded-on-wealth-and-birth/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Nothing but free argument, raillery and even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/nothing-but-free-argument-raillery-and-even-ridicule-will-preserve/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/when-the-people-are-afraid-of-the-government-that-s-tyranny-but-when/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/we-hold-these-truths-to-be-self-evident-that-all-men-are-created/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Explore all 2,098 Thomas Jefferson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ## More Artificial quotes > [One of our big goals in search is to make search that really understands exactly what you want, understands everything in the world. As…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-page/one-of-our-big-goals-in-search-is-to-make-search-that-really/) [Larry Page](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-page/) > [Baseball needs to put the steroids era behind it by having and enforcing tough rules against all kinds of artificial advantages, so that spring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-olasky/baseball-needs-to-put-the-steroids-era-behind-it-by-having-and/) [Marvin Olasky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-olasky/) > [People don't want to believe that technology is broken. Pharmaceuticals, robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology - all these areas where the progress has been a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-thiel/people-don-t-want-to-believe-that-technology-is-broken/) [Peter Thiel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-thiel/) > [I find theater very lazy and artificial, and then when it's not, it lacks refinement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-tsakos/i-find-theater-very-lazy-and-artificial-and-then-when-it-s-not-it/) [Natasha Tsakos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-tsakos/) > [Conservative feminism is such an artificial term that doesn't mean much to me. For me conservatism means accepting reality. I acknowledge that there are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristina-schroder/conservative-feminism-is-such-an-artificial-term-that-doesn-t-mean/) [Kristina Schroder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristina-schroder/) > [There is... an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/there-is-an-artificial-aristocracy-founded-on-wealth-and-birth/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elon-musk/i-think-we-should-be-very-careful-about-artificial-intelligence-if-i/) [Elon Musk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elon-musk/) > [There is no society or conversation to be kept up in the world without good-nature, or something which must bear its appearance and supply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/there-is-no-society-or-conversation-to-be-kept-up-in-the-world/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Inflation is not caused by the actions of private citizens, but by the government: by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/inflation-is-not-caused-by-the-actions-of-private-citizens-but-by-the/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Of all evils of war the greatest is the purely spiritual evil: the hatred, the injustice, the repudiation of truth, the artificial conflict.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/of-all-evils-of-war-the-greatest-is-the-purely-spiritual-evil-the/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [Perspective, as its inventor remarked, is a beautiful thing. What horrors of damp huts, where human beings languish, may not become picturesque through aerial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/perspective-as-its-inventor-remarked-is-a-beautiful-thing-what/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [People always make this totally artificial distinction between what is commercial and what is good. They quote that maxim "Nobody ever lost money underestimating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/people-always-make-this-totally-artificial-distinction-between-what/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [We always want to live in an environment where there's no artificial block to good work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chiwetel-ejiofor/we-always-want-to-live-in-an-environment-where-there-s-no-artificial/) [Chiwetel Ejiofor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chiwetel-ejiofor/) > [What do you have to surrender? A drop has to dissolve into the ocean to become the ocean. And a drop cannot be greater…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/what-do-you-have-to-surrender-a-drop-has-to-dissolve-into-the-ocean/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [It was astonishing when at one point, I got the idea of how to make artifical clouds with a collaborator, we had pictures made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/it-was-astonishing-when-at-one-point-i-got-the-idea-of-how-to-make/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) [Browse all 819 Artificial quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artificial/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue. It is the practice of sacrificing to those whom we meet in society, all the little inconveniences and preferences which will gratify them, and deprive us of nothing worth a moment's consideration; it is the giving a pleasing and flattering turn to our expressions, which will conciliate others, and make them pleased with us as well as themselves. How cheap a price for the good will of another!", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Jefferson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-humor-it-covers-the-natural/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Artificial" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-humor-it-covers-the-natural/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a5/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-h_2051140.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a5/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-h_2051140.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a5/thomas-jefferson-43_artificial_in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-h_2051140.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering…” — Thomas Jefferson", "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": "Thomas Jefferson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "In truth, politeness is artificial good...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-humor-it-covers-the-natural/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/in-truth-politeness-is-artificial-good-humor-it-covers-the-natural/#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 } } ] } ```