222 Quotes by 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; in the living room, sometimes you need anything but. Often.

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.

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.

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.

Most people who work at home find they do not have the benefit of receptionists who serve as personal guards.

If it’s against state law, it’s generally considered a breach of Etiquette.

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

Parents should conduct their arguments in quiet, respectful tones, but in a foreign language. You’d be surprised what an inducement that is to the education of children.

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