Nice to the Waiter/Quotes

"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

—Sirius Black, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

In short he was a perfect cavaliero, And to his very valet seemed a hero.

—Rochdale

A man must indeed be a hero to appear such in the eyes of his valet.

—Marshal Nicolas Catinat

He never yet no villainy ne said
In all his life, unto no manner wight.

He was a very perfect gentle knight.

—Geoffrey Chaucer

The power which the strong have over the weak, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly — the forbearing or inoffensive use of all this power or authority, or a total abstinence from it when the case admits it, will show the gentleman in a plain light.

—Robert E. Lee

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

—Samuel Johnson

"Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your superiors."

—Seneca, Epistle 47:11

... if you believe that you are “helping the poor” by spending money on powerpoint presentations and international meetings, the type of meetings that lead to more meetings (and powerpoint presentations) you can completely ignore the individuals –the poor is some abstract reified construct that you do not encounter in your real life. Your efforts in conferences gives you a license to humiliate them in person. Hillary Monsanto-Malmaison, more commonly known as
Hillary Clinton, found it permissible to heap abuse at secret service agents.[i] I was recently told that a famous socialist environmentalist who was part of the same lecture series abused waiters in restaurants, between lectures on equity and fairness.
[…]
Hence the principle:
If your private life conflicts with your intellectual opinion, it cancels your intellectual ideas, not your private life
and
If your private actions do not generalize then you cannot have general ideas

—Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Merchandising of Virtue (Excerpts from Skin in the Game)