People who put slipcovers, doilies, plastic protectors…

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

— Judith Martin

If you put together all the ingredients that naturally attract children - sex, violence, revenge, spectacle and vigorous noise - what you have is…

— Judith Martin

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

— Judith Martin

Chaperons, even in their days of glory, were almost never able to enforce morality; what they did was to force immorality to be discreet.…

— Judith Martin

There are always proper responses, even to rude questions.

— Judith Martin

Perhaps the greatest rudenesses of our time come not from the callousness of strangers, but from the solicitousness of intimates who believe that their…

— Judith Martin

We are all entitled to our little harmless habits, but we are not entitled to demand approval for them.

— Judith Martin

“Lady” is not used before the lady’s first name unless she is the daughter of a duke, marquess or earl; those who come by…

— Judith Martin

Greece is a good place for rebirths.

— Judith Martin

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

— Judith Martin

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…

— Judith Martin

It is, indeed, a trial to maintain the virtue of humility when one can't help being right.

— Judith Martin

Honesty is a virtue, but not the only one. If you're in a courtroom you need the whole truth and nothing but the truth;…

— Judith Martin

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

— Judith Martin

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

— Judith Martin