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Considering the phenomenon of French politesse in the context of political, legal and socio-cultural issues of the emergence of a modern democratic state governed by the rule of law, the author rethinks the legacy of Voltaire, Montesquieu, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, as well as Madame de Staël, Stendhal and Tocqueville, to outline two opposing and interrelated paths to modernity: English, based on trade, and French, based on conversation. Contrary to the view of politesse as a form of social hypocrisy, the author emphasises its fundamental role in establishing the rules of civilised ordinariness in society, which leads to the softening of habits, customs and manners, and ultimately to political, legal and social progress.