Judith Martin Short Quotes

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Hypocrisy is not generally a social sin, but a virtue.

Judith Martin
Traditionally, a luncheon is a lunch that takes an eon.

Judith Martin
Protocol is etiquette with a government expense account.

Judith Martin
Why bring children into a world where no one writes letters?

Judith Martin
A young lady is a female child who has just done something dreadful.

Judith Martin
Only a person who considers himself too good for you is good enough.

Judith Martin
You think death is any better an excuse for desertion than any other?

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

Judith Martin
You do not have to do everything disagreeable that you have a right to do

Judith Martin
Nowadays, you form your beliefs to fit your behavior, not the other way around.

Judith Martin
Everyone old enough to have a secret is entitled to have some place to keep it.

Judith Martin
There is nothing like a good friend to help you out when you are not in trouble.

Judith Martin
A person who doesn't feel rejected doesn't go away. A painless rejection isn't one.

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

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

Judith Martin
It is said that dispensing advice is easy. What is difficult is getting anyone to listen to it.

Judith Martin
Honesty has come to mean the privilege of insulting you to your face without expecting redress.

Judith Martin
Smart people duck when they hear the dread announcement 'I'm going to be perfectly honest with you.'

Judith Martin
There are three social classes in America: upper middle class, middle class, and lower middle class.

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

Judith Martin
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
When you consider how epidemic boredom is in our time, you have to concede that entertaining is a healing art.

Judith Martin
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
When a society abandons its ideals just because most people can't live up to them, behavior gets very ugly indeed.

Judith Martin
We are all born charming, frank, and spontaneous and must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society.

Judith Martin
For those who want to eat efficiently, God made the banana, complete with its own colour-co-ordinated carrying case.

Judith Martin
Smokers make excellent friends at present-giving time, because they can always be given pretty lighters and ashtrays.

Judith Martin
Charming villains have always had a decided social advantage over well-meaning people who chew with their mouths open.

Judith Martin
Adorable children are considered to be the general property of the human race. (Rude children belong to their mothers.)

Judith Martin
A general rule of etiquette is that one apologizes for the unfortunate occurrence, but the unthinkable is unmentionable.

Judith Martin