Judith Martin Quotes

A long time ago I learned not to explain things to people. It misleads them into thinking they're entitled to know everything I do. -Sara

I find it weird that people want to know about you.

Fans are people, and people sometimes get mad at air. I know I do. So I have people huff at me because I'm not doing what they want, but I also have people get mad because I use profanity, or because I exist in material space, or because I was at Disneyland when they thought I should be writing.

Etiquette can be at the same time a means of approaching people and of staying clear of them.

Racist people, interestingly, are never as polite as smokers. Have you noticed that? Smokers always go, "Do you mind if I smoke? Oh, you do? Okay, I'll go outside and have a cigarette."

Whether it's your personal life or career, people feel they have carte blanche to everything that goes on in your life. I don't agree with that, but I do feel I have to share my thoughts on those things with people instead of totally avoiding it. I want to put it out there the way I want to put it out there.

I am no longer going to become a fictional character to please people. That's too much work.

You teach people how to treat you.

People say that you always have to tell the truth. But they do not mean this because you are not allowed to tell old people that they are old and you are not allowed to tell people if they smell funny or if a grown-up has made a fart. And you are not allowed to say, 'I don't like you,' unless that person has been horrible to you.

The way that we tend to think about privacy is not that you have to keep everything secret, it's not that you can't share anything with other people - it's that you have control over the dissemination of the information about you.

I just think that your private life is private. What I do is obviously public, I get that. I get the fact that people are interested. I'm interested in a lot of people as well. I've just chosen to stay as private as possible.

Ideally you do want people to treat you professionally in return, but not everyone necessarily does that.

Don't get caught up in other people's expectations. Don't take anything for granted, either.

When I'm on a plane, people know where I'm going before I even know where I'm going. People know where you had lunch yesterday, or who you had lunch with. So, trying to avoid sharing everything with everyone is my way of keeping something private in my life.

You said i could call you when i wanted but that you wouldn’t call me. you have to decide where and when, you said. if you leave it up to me i’ll want to see you every day. At least you were honest, which is more than i can say for me.

I don't want people to love me. It makes for obligations.

People who stare deserve the looks they get.

Today I will realize that I'm powerless over other people's expectations of me. I'll think about what I want and consider that how I respond to others' needs will affect the course of my life. I will own my own power and choose the course that's right for me.

In real life, I try to be honest but not overshare. There are people that turn every conversation into a therapy session and you want to start charging them.

I respect the social graces enormously. How to pass the food. Don't yell from one room to another. Don't go through a closed door without a knock. Open the doors for the ladies. All these millions of simple household behaviors make for a better life. We can't live in constant rebellion against our parents - it's just silly. I'm very well mannered. It's not an abstract thing. It's a shared language of expectations.

If people ask me, I always tell them: "Quite well, thank you, I'm very glad to say." If people ask me, I always answer, "Quite well, thank you, how are you today?" I always answer, I always tell them, If they ask me Politely... BUT SOMETIMES I wish That they wouldn't

It is terribly rude to tell people that their troubles are boring.

Screening telephone calls with a receptionist or the humbler answering machine is not a dishonorable thing to do. The warmest people in the world still need uninterrupted time to attend to their lives and should not be outwitted if they have made it obvious that they are not always available upon summons.

You want attention, you want support, you want to be treated properly, and I don't wanna have to go anywhere and teach people how to treat me.

People are not here to meet your expectations.