dog-eared

"He had little of small change of conversation and rarely rose to reach down one of those ready-made forms and phrases that drape, whether fresh or frayed, the hooks and pegs of the general wardrobe of talk--that repository in which alone so many persons qualify for the discipline of society, as supernumerary actors prepare, amid a like provision, for the ordeal of the footlights."

"Well, it's just the sort of kindness," she smiled, "the kindness that costs nothing, the kindness you show to a child. It's as if you rather looked down on him. It's as if you don't respect him."

"Respect him? Why, respect's a big feeling. But I guess I do." 

"You guess? If you're not sure, it's no respect." 

The American, Henry James