I saw this posted to Instapundit a while back and had to post it just because I liked it so much.

“Be not intimidated, therefore, by any terrors, from publishing with the utmost freedom, whatever can be warranted by the laws of your country; nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretenses of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery, and cowardice.”
– John Adams, in _A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law_ (1765)

As for me, I tend to be the avoid-confrontations-at-all-costs type. So this quote is a good reminder about the pitfalls of using good manners as an excuse to avoid tough situations.