good breeding

Good breeding refers to the manners, behavior, and social graces associated with being raised in a respectable or upper-class family.

Someone with good breeding knows which fork to use, how to make polite conversation, and when to write thank-you notes.

The phrase carries old-fashioned, sometimes classist connotations—implying that proper behavior is inherited or instilled from birth rather than learned later: Her good breeding showed in how graciously she handled the awkward situation.