Culture, cultivation, breeding, refinement are comparable when they denote a quality of a person or group of persons which reflects his or their possession of excellent taste, manners, and social adjustment.
Culture implies a high degree of enlightenment that has been acquired by familiarity with what is best in the civilized life of many ages and lands; in addition, it usually suggests fineness of taste, delicacy of perception, and gracious urbanity of manners.
Cultivation is often preferred to culture because it suggests the continuous pursuit of culture and the self-discipline which accompanies such pursuit, rather than its achievement, and is therefore more modest and often more appropriate.
Breeding implies such training or lifelong experience in courtesy and the amenities of gracious living that one is never at a loss how to act or what to say; moreover the word often suggests poise, tact, an ability to come forward or to retire at will or at need, and other social qualities which mark one out even among one’s social equals.
Refinement implies not only the absence (often the eradication) of all that is gross, vulgar, or merely common but also the presence of fineness of feeling, delicacy of perception or understanding, and fastidiousness.