Judith Martin
Judith Martin
Judith Martin, better known by the pen name Miss Manners, is an American journalist, author, and etiquette authority...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth13 September 1938
CountryUnited States of America
art healing epidemics
When you consider how epidemic boredom is in our time, you have to concede that entertaining is a healing art.
conversation predictions busybodies
The one prediction that never comes true is, 'You'll thank me for telling you this.
stars eye years
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.
honesty smart ducks
Smart people duck when they hear the dread announcement 'I'm going to be perfectly honest with you.
thinking excuse desertion
You think death is any better an excuse for desertion than any other?
mean friendly debt
Meanwhile, the empty forms of social behavior survive inappropriately in business situations. We all know that when a business sends its customers 'friendly reminders,' it really means business.
government definitions etiquette
Protocol is etiquette with a government expense account.
love-you mean home
People say when you're in love, you don't need etiquette. Well, you need it then more than anything. Or they say, 'At home I can just be myself.' What they mean is they can be their worst selves. ... They always mean they will save all their anxiety about how to behave for somebody like the head waiter of a restaurant, someone they'll never see again.
mean thinking differences
People think, mistakenly, that etiquette means you have to suppress your differences. On the contray, etiquette is what enables you to deal with them; it gives you a set of rules.
law community social-behavior
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.
sneakers quality doe
The rationale that etiquette should be eschewed because it fosters inequality does not ring true in a society that openly admits to a feverish interest in the comparative status-conveying qualities of sneakers. Manners are available to all, for free.
order departure guests
It is a widespread and firm belief among guests that their departure is always a matter of distress to their hosts, and that in order to indicate that they have been pleasantly entertained, they must demonstrate an extreme unwillingness to allow the entertainment to conclude. This is not necessarily true.
people safe next
Washington knows that it is not safe to kick people who are down until you find out what their next stop will be.
jobs party thinking
You don't want to look too chic at a Washington party or people will think you don't have a job worth losing.