Judith Martin Quotes - Page 5

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• The one prediction that never comes true is, 'You'll thank me for telling you this.

  Judith Martin

  Predictions, Conversation, Busybodies

  8 Copy quote

• People will say, 'Seventy isn't old, it's middle-aged,' and I think, middle of what - 140?

  Judith Martin

  Thinking, People, Middle

  4 Copy quote

• The challenge of manners is not so much to be nice to someone whose favor and/or person you covet (although more people need to be reminded of that necessity than one would suppose) as to be exposed to the bad manners of others without imitating them.

  Judith Martin

  Nice, People, Challenges

  Judith Martin (1990). “Miss Manners' Guide for the Turn-of-the-Millennium”, p.121, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

• It has always puzzled me, in my business, that people think they have to answer questions, no matter how disagreeable or dangerous, just because they were asked. Of course, we journalists would be out of business if they didn't.

  Judith Martin

  Thinking, People, Would Be

  Judith Martin (1986). “Style and substance: a comedy of manners”, Scribner

  4 Copy quote

• Fairness does not consist so much of everybody's doing the same thing, but of everybody's being willing to do something that others don't want to do.

  Judith Martin

  Doe, Want, Fairness

  5 Copy quote

• One of the big no-nos in cyberspace is that you do not go into a social activity, a chat group or something like that, and start advertising or selling things. This etiquette rule is an attempt to separate one's social life, which should be pure enjoyment and relaxation, from the pressures of work.

  Judith Martin

  Selling Things, Relaxation, Groups

  4 Copy quote

• You don't want to look too chic at a Washington party or people will think you don't have a job worth losing.

  Judith Martin

  Jobs, Party, Thinking

  Judith Martin (1986). “Style and substance: a comedy of manners”, Scribner

  11 Copy quote

• Knowing that others have gone through similar tragedies may be a help, but it should be remembered that every tragedy is not only commonplace but also unique.

  Judith Martin

  Unique, Knowing, Tragedy

  Judith Martin (1996). “Miss Manners Rescues Civilization: From Sexual Harassment, Frivolous Lawsuits, Dissing, and Other Lapses in Civility”, Crown

  4 Copy quote

• The etiquette question that troubles so many fastidious people New Year's Day is: How am I ever going to face those people again?

  Judith Martin

  New Year, Years, People

  Judith Martin (2011). “Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior (Freshly Updated)”, p.780, W. W. Norton & Company

  5 Copy quote

• It doesn't matter whether the bride or the bridegroom writes the letters of thanks for wedding presents provided that these go out immediately after the arrival of each present and are not in the handwriting of the bride's mother.

  Judith Martin

  Mother, Writing, Letters

  Jacobina Martin, Judith Martin (2010). “Miss Manners' Guide to a Surprisingly Dignified Wedding”, p.242, W. W. Norton & Company

  4 Copy quote

• When someone has tried to please you, it is rude, as well as disheartening, to respond by announcing that the effort was a failure.

  Judith Martin

  Women, Effort, Rude

  8 Copy quote

• Whamming someone smaller than oneself in order to teach that person civilized behavior is not within Miss Manners' concept of propriety, much less logic.

  Judith Martin

  Order, Missing, Logic

  Judith Martin (2002). “Miss Manners' Guide to Rearing Perfect Children”, p.41, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

• The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don't have to pay taxes - naturally, no one wants to live any other way.

  Judith Martin

  Inspirational, Children, Growing Up

  7 Copy quote

• The simple idea that everyone needs a reasonable amount of challenging work in his or her life, and also a personal life, complete with noncompetitive leisure, has never really taken hold.

  Judith Martin

  Inspirational, Taken, Simple

  Judith Martin (1996). “Common courtesy: in which Miss Manners solves the problem that baffled Mr. Jefferson”

  7 Copy quote

• Precision marching is less important for the bridal party than maintaining the proper facial expresssions: The bridegroom must look awed; the bridesmaids, happy and excited; the father of the bride, proud; and the bride, demure. If the bridegroom feels doubtful, the bridesmaids, sulky, the father, worried, and the bride, blasé, nobody wants to know.

  Judith Martin

  Father, Party, Important

  Judith Martin (1999). “Miss Manners on Weddings”, Crown

  9 Copy quote

• 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

  Night, Keys, Worry

  Judith Martin (1996). “Common courtesy: in which Miss Manners solves the problem that baffled Mr. Jefferson”

  7 Copy quote

• What restricts the use of the word 'lady' among the courteous is that it is intended to set a woman apart from ordinary humanity, and in the working world that is not a help, as women have discovered in many bitter ways.

  Judith Martin

  Humanity, Ordinary, Use

  Judith Martin (1982). “Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior”, Scribner

  4 Copy quote

• Email is very informal, a memo. But I find that not signing off or not having a salutation bothers me.

  Judith Martin

  Email, Bother, Signing

  17 Copy quote

• If written directions alone would suffice, libraries wouldn't need to have the rest of the universities attached.

  Judith Martin

  Women, Library, Needs

  4 Copy quote

• The more skillful the performance of false cheer, the more pleasing the effect is upon one's public and on that private audience to whom one owes even more.

  Judith Martin

  Cheer, Deception, Audience

  Judith Martin (1982). “Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior”, Scribner

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Judith Martin

  Memorial Day, Opportunity, Simple

  Judith Martin (1990). “Miss Manners' Guide for the Turn-of-the-Millennium”, p.149, Simon and Schuster

  5 Copy quote

• 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

  Stars, Eye, Years

  Judith Martin (1986). “Style and substance: a comedy of manners”, Scribner

  4 Copy quote

• The most conventional statements are both true and welcome.

  Judith Martin

  Women, Welcome, Conventional

  4 Copy quote

• Sometimes we do things a certain way just because that is the way we do things.

  Judith Martin

  Women, Way, Sometimes

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  People, Lazy, Want

  Judith Martin (1986). “Style and substance: a comedy of manners”, Scribner

  4 Copy quote

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