Using examples of the bad manners found in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Mitchell Kalpakgian shows how our charitable actions can avoid hurt feelings.

by Dr Mitchell Kalpakgian | As his name implies, Mr. Knightley epitomizes the gentleman, a man whose manners, conduct, and treatment of all human beings reflects honor, courtesy, chivalry, and thoughtfulness.

by Mitchell Kalpakgian | The custom of visiting on Sundays and holidays, once a natural part of a human life, has waned in the last fifty years. Visitors feel the obligation to call in advance and ask permission lest they impose or inconvenience their hosts. Hosts who receive visitors sense the need to have ample provisions...

Words, like music, can create harmony or discord. Words, like certain fine instruments, can refine and beautify or, like blunt tools, can break and smash. The art of living requires sensitivity to the choice of words, to the tone of voice, and to the manner of speech.

Someone mentioned to my wife lately that she doesn’t usually read my fatherhood/homeschooling columns because I use too many sports analogies. For instance, over the years, I have written that baseball is like “raspberry sorbet for the mind;” I have said that life is about “how many shots you take, rather than how many baskets you make;” and I recently wrote that being a good father was like being a “hockey goalie,” and so forth.

A critic of Jane Austen’s novels facetiously coined this phrase to illustrate one of the virtues of civility. Characters with the most refined and elegant manners exemplify this virtue that ...