"A gentleman is never rude except on purpo…" — Christopher Hitchens

Share & Save

Meaning

The line reads as a joke about polish as performance, with manners treated as something one can switch on and off. It can be taken to mean that rudeness, when chosen deliberately, is more revealing than clumsy bluntness, and the added self-description turns that into a sly confession. It lands in a conversation about civility, where wit is being used to admit a sharper edge.

When It Was Said

Not documented yet.

Who It Was Said To

Not documented yet.

Historical Context

Not documented yet.

Source

Not documented yet.

Original Language & Translation

Originally said in English.

Did They Really Say It?

Not documented yet.

Did You Know?

Not documented yet.

About Christopher Hitchens

British and American author and journalist

Christopher Eric Hitchens was a British and American author and journalist. He was a public intellectual of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, known for his work as a columnist and speaker, and for his role among the so-called “Four Horsemen” of New Atheism. He became widely noticed for sharp, argumentative writing and for the principle often linked to him that claims without evidence need not be accepted. That idea, sometimes called Hitchens’s razor, is cited in philosophy and law, and it reflects the evidential style associated with his work.