List of Judith Martin Quotes

Charming Villains Have Always Had A Decided Social Advantage Over Well-meaning People Who Chew With Their Mouths Open.

Parents Should Conduct Their Arguments In Quiet, Respectful Tones, But In A Foreign Language. You'd Be Surprised What An Inducement That Is To The Education Of Children.

Nowadays, You Form Your Beliefs To Fit Your Behavior, Not The Other Way Around.

You Do Not Have To Do Everything Disagreeable That You Have A Right To Do

Many Of The Guests Will Eventually Leave The Table To Watch Football On Television, Which Would Be A Rudeness At Any Other Occasion But Is A Relief At Thanksgiving And Probably The Only Way To Get Those People To Budge.

From Memorial Day To Labor Day, You May Wear White Shoes. Not Before And Not After. As A Command, The White Shoe Edict Should Be Clear And Simple Enough. Do Not Violate It. In A Society In Which Everything Else Has Become Relative, A Matter Of How It Makes You Feel, A Question Between You And Your Conscience, And An Opportunity For You To Be Really You, This Is An Absolute.

Question- Should I Loan A Small Amount Of Money To A Friend? Answer- If You Are Sure That You Can, If Necessary, Spare Both.

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.

When Politeness Is Used To Show Up Other People, It Is Reclassified As Rudeness. Thus It Is Technically Impossible To Be Too Polite.

People, In Forming Their Opinions Of Others, Are Usually Lazy Enough To Go By Whatever Is Most Obvious Or Whatever Chance Remark They Happen To Hear. So The Best Policy Is To Dictate To Others The Opinion You Want Them To Have Of You.

One Reason That The Task Of Inventing Manners Is So Difficult Is That Etiquette Is Folk Custom, And People Have Emotional Ties To The Forms Of Their Youth. That Is Why There Is Such Hostility Between Generations In Times Of Rapid Change; Their Manners Being Different, Each Feels Affronted By The Other, Taking Even The Most Surface Choices For Challenges.

Meanwhile, The Empty Forms Of Social Behavior Survive Inappropriately In Business Situations. We All Know That When A Business Sends Its Customers 'friendly Reminders,' It Really Means Business.