Judith Martin

“Etiquette is all human relations. When you are stateside you think of it as trivial, but as soon as you are in a different country, it is shockingly obvious that without it, you are lost.”

“Politeness is the art of choosing among your thoughts.”

“When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.”

“It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.”

“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.”

“We are all born charming, fresh, and spontaneous and must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society.”

“There are three social classes in America: upper middle class, middle class, and lower middle class.”

“Gossip is what no one claims to like, but everybody enjoys.”

“You can deny all you want that there is etiquette, and you can say, 'Oh, I don't have to do that,' but in the end, you'll be judged.”

“Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot.”

“The family is the basic cell of government: it is where we are trained to believe that we are human beings or that we are chattel, it is where we learn grammar, manners, taste, ordinance, rule, punishment, and law.”