Don't grease the cables and housings. If you use anything at all on them just use a light wipe of oil. Grease on the cables will make things really feel gummy. A light oil will maintain the snappiness of the lever action which you want. Most of us run them dry since even a light coat of oil will attract grit and make things gritty feeling in time.
The only exception to this no grease rule is the noodles found on V brakes. In that case the bend radius in the cable is tight enough that grease just in the noodle is needed to ease the friction. But if you were to fill the housings with grease the overall system feel would be like trying to paddle in a lake of peanut butter.
If your cables are dry but still feel "gritty" due to some light corrosion that can occur even on stainless cables then pull them out of the housings, pull then through a handful of steel wool or a Scotchbrite pad to polish them up and re-install. Doing this polish will likely restore the feel you want without the need for oil.
If the cables feel "grabby" in the housings and the levers are hesitant to snap back when releasing them this is a sign that the cables have worn a groove in the inner liner of the housings. This means that it's time for new housings. But oiling the cables will gain you a little time if you just want to get back to riding. Plan on new housings for sooner rather than later though.
Last edited by BCRider; 10-03-10 at 12:38 PM.