Manners are primarily for the sake of the person who practices them. They enable the person with manners to have a respect for human association, which means to make his or her own associations more comfortable and satisfying. You show manners because you like who you are, you like that you’re alive and in human society. Manners come from a deeper benevolence that life is good and people are good unless or until they show themselves to be otherwise. Manners are not pretense, and they’re not arbitrary rules. They’re simple expressions of respect towards other people, because you have respect for life and for yourself.