Judith Martin Quotes and Sayings - Page 1
More Judith Martin quote about:
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“Nowadays, we never allow ourselves the convenience of being temporarily unavailable, even to strangers. With telephone and beeper, people subject themselves to being instantly accessible to everyone at all times, and it is the person who refuses to be on call, rather than the importunate caller, who is considered rude.”
-- Judith Martin -
“If it's against state law, it's generally considered a breach of Etiquette.”
-- Judith Martin -
“Adorable children are considered to be the general property of the human race. Rude children belong to their mothers.”
-- Judith Martin -
“It's far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.”
-- Judith Martin -
“We are born charming fresh and spontaneous and must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society.”
-- Judith Martin -
“Do you have a kinder, more adaptable friend in the food world than soup? Who soothes you when you are ill? Who refuses to leave you when you are impoverished and stretches its resources to give a hearty sustenance and cheer? Who warms you in the winter and cools you in the summer? Yet who also is capable of doing honor to your richest table and impressing your most demanding guests? Soup does its loyal best, no matter what undignified conditions are imposed upon it. You don't catch steak hanging around when you're poor and sick, do you?”
-- Judith Martin -
“Perhaps the greatest rudenesses of our time come not from the callousness of strangers, but from the solicitousness of intimates who believe that their frank criticisms are always welcome, and who feel free to "be themselves" with those they love, which turns out to mean being their worst selves, while saving their best behavior for strangers.”
-- Judith Martin -
“When virtues are pointed out first, flaws seem less insurmountable.”
-- Judith Martin -
“It is wrong to wear diamonds before luncheon, except on one’s marriage rings. Before, after, and during breakfast, luncheon and dinner, it is vulgar to wear a mixture of colored precious stones. It is always a comfort to know that so many things one can’t afford to do anyway are vulgar.”
-- Judith Martin -
“Ideological differences are no excuse for rudeness.”
-- Judith Martin -
“There are three possible parts to a date, of which at least two must be offered: entertainment, food, and affection. It is customary to begin a series of dates with a great deal of entertainment, a moderate amount of food, and the merest suggestion of affection. As the amount of affection increases, the entertainment can be reduced proportionately. When the affection IS the entertainment, we no longer call it dating. Under no circumstances can the food be omitted.”
-- Judith Martin -
“We are all born rude. No infant has ever appeared yet with the grace to understand how inconsiderate it is to disturb others in the middle of the night.”
-- Judith Martin -
“Chaperons don't enforce morality; they force immorality to be discreet.”
-- Judith Martin -
“We already know that anonymous letters are despicable. In etiquette, as well as in law, hiring a hit man to do the job does not relieve you of responsibility.”
-- Judith Martin -
“A lot of men got upset at the feminist movement because they had all the toys and we wanted some.”
-- Judith Martin -
“The idea that people can behave naturally, without resorting to an artificial code tacitly agreed upon by their society, is as silly as the idea that they can communicate by a spoken language without commonly accepted semantic and grammatical rules.”
-- Judith Martin -
“The etiquette of intimacy is very different from the etiquette of formality, but manners are not just something to show off to the outside world. If you offend the head waiter, you can always go to another restaurant. If you offend the person you live with, it's very cumbersome to switch to a different family.”
-- Judith Martin -
“Etiquette enables you to resolve conflict without just trading insults. Without etiquette, the irritations in modern life are so abrasive that you see people turning to the law to regulate everyday behavior. This frightens me; it's a major inroad on our basic freedoms.”
-- Judith Martin -
“When you're in love, you put up with things that, when you're out of love you cite.”
-- Judith Martin -
“Yes, etiquette is hypocritical. Yes, it does inhibit children - if you're lucky. But the idea that it's elitist and irrelevant is like saying language is elitist and irrelevant.”
-- Judith Martin -
“We have the reverse of the Puritan work ethic in America now. No one ever becomes a star by plugging along year after year. What is needed is flair, talent, 'an eye,' contacts, charisma, and, most of all, naturalness.”
-- Judith Martin -
“Honesty has come to mean the privilege of insulting you to your face without expecting redress.”
-- Judith Martin -
“For email, the old postcard rule applies. Nobody else is supposed to read your postcards, but you'd be a fool if you wrote anything private on one.”
-- Judith Martin -
“A wedding invitation is sent by people who have been saying, "Do we have to ask them?" to people whose first response is, "How much do you think we have to spend on them?”
-- Judith Martin -
“the obligation to express gratitude deepens with procrastination. The longer you wait, the more effusive must be the thanks.”
-- Judith Martin -
“To sacrifice the principles of manners, which require compassion and respect, and bat people over the head with their ignorance of etiquette rules they cannot be expected to know is both bad manners and poor etiquette. That social climbers and twits have misused etiquette throughout history should not be used as an argument for doing away with it.”
-- Judith Martin -
“Society cannot exist without etiquette ... It never has, and until our own century, everybody knew that.”
-- Judith Martin -
“Smart people duck when they hear the dread announcement 'I'm going to be perfectly honest with you.”
-- Judith Martin
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