Judith Martin - Life Quotes

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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
Civilized life begins with a boiled egg sitting upright in an egg cup.

Judith Martin
She only maintains that it is possible, under some circumstances, for a lady to murder her husband; but that a woman who wears ankle-strap shoes and smokes on the street corner, though she may be a joy to all who know her and have devoted her life to charity, could never qualify as a lady.

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
A myth exists that one of the pleasures of private life is the ability to drop manners.

Judith Martin
Etiquette is about all of human social behavior. Behavior is regulated by law when etiquette breaks down or when the stakes are high — violations of life, limb, property and so on. Barring that, etiquette is a little social contract we make that we will restrain some of our more provocative impulses in return for living more or less harmoniously in a community.

Judith Martin
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
Life is full of wonderful passions that come and go over the years, but the only one that will never let you down is reading.

Judith Martin