Quote

Society cannot exist without etiquette ... It never has, and until our own century, everybody knew that.

Judith Martin

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Judith Martin
Age: 86
Born: 1938
Born: September 13
Economist
Journalist
Washington
District of Columbia
Society
Cannot
Without
Never
Etiquette
Exist
Century
Knew
Everybody

More quotes by Judith Martin

Image
I make a distinction between manners and etiquette - manners as the principles, which are eternal and universal, etiquette as the particular rules which are arbitrary and different in different times, different situations, different cultures.
Judith Martin
Image
What you have when everyone wears the same playclothes for all occasions, is addressed by nickname, expected to participate in Show And Tell, and bullied out of any desire form privacy, is not democracy it is kindergarten.
Judith Martin
Image
It's far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.
Judith Martin
Image
I have always believed that the key to a happy marriage was the ability to say with a straight face, 'Why, I don't know what you're worrying about. I thought you were very funny last night and I'm sure everybody else did, too.
Judith Martin
Image
A lot of men got upset at the feminist movement because they had all the toys and we wanted some.
Judith Martin
Image
Washington knows that it is not safe to kick people who are down until you find out what their next stop will be.
Judith Martin
Image
Generosity and gratitude are inseparably linked.
Judith Martin
Image
The truly essential bargain between host and guest requires the guest only to respond promptly, show up on time, socialize with other guests, thank the host, write additional thanks and reciprocate. You needn't bring anything.
Judith Martin
Image
We are all entitled to our little harmless habits, but we are not entitled to demand approval for them.
Judith Martin
Image
You do not have to do everything disagreeable that you have a right to do
Judith Martin
Image
Hypocrisy is not generally a social sin, but a virtue.
Judith Martin
Image
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.
Judith Martin
Image
A young lady is a female child who has just done something dreadful.
Judith Martin
Image
The dinner table is the center for the teaching and practicing not just of table manners but of conversation, consideration, tolerance, family feeling, and just about all the other accomplishments of polite society except the minuet.
Judith Martin
Image
Indeed, Miss Manners has come to believe that the basic political division in this country is not between liberals and conservatives but between those who believe that they should have a say in the love lives of strangers and those who do not.
Judith Martin
Image
. . . women were brought up to have only one set of manners. A woman was either a lady or she wasn't, and we all know what the latter meant. Not even momentary lapses were allowed there is no female equivalent of the boys-will-be-boys concept.
Judith Martin
Image
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.
Judith Martin
Image
Only a person who considers himself too good for you is good enough.
Judith Martin
Image
There are three social classes in America: upper middle class, middle class, and lower middle class.
Judith Martin
Image
Nowadays people consider it a disgrace to admit that they are not stressed.
Judith Martin