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

Indeed, Miss Manners has come to believe that the basic political division in this country is not between liberals and conservatives but between those who believe that they should have a say in the love lives of strangers and those who do not.
Judith Martin

You glance at an e-mail. You give more attention to a real letter.
Judith Martin

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

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.
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. This is no small contribution.
Judith Martin

We already know that anonymous letters are despicable. In etiquette, as well as in law, hiring a hit man to do the job does not relieve you of responsibility.
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