Top 65 Quotes & Sayings by Emily Yoffe

Polygamy has an ancient history and is legal in many parts of the world. I find the rules of polygamy to be damaging and it's potentially dangerous to young girls and terrible for "excess" boys. But polyamory is supposed to be a more equal arrangement among agreeing adults.

People often recommend, "Why do you ask?" as a good conversation stopper. But that really doesn't end the conversation, it just leaves the other person sputtering for a response. I like, "You'll be the first to know.".

I have people close to me who ask my advice just as I ask theirs.

I am against lying, but just because someone asks a question does not mean you have to answer it.

I counseled a 75-year-old married, bi-sexual man who was having a gay affair and was not having sex with his wife to continue his secret life because that seemed like the kindest thing to do. But a young woman embarking on married life, hoping to start a family with her husband, needs to at least know he's already living a double life.

When you have a life milestone happen, it's good to step back and reassess the things you thought you knew about yourself.

I'm certainly not suggesting legalization of polyamory. But it's also unfairly judgmental of you to compare such relationships to the criminal acts of bestiality or child sexual abuse.

I'm not suffering from some division of personality.

An alcoholic 47-year-old woman with teenagers who thinks a guy in his mid-20s is a good prospect as a partner definitely has some judgment and character flaws.

I'm not a big advocate of living together before marriage. It can be the right thing, but it can also leave two people stuck together who haven't figured out what they really want out of the relationship.

Don't underestimate the power of the nonplussed look and the shake of the head. Letting noxious words hang in the air can be very powerful.

I have this wonderful capacity just to walk away from my mistakes and not dwell on them.

Anyone who marries gets no guarantee that their partner, no matter what they vow, will always keep that promise.

I can't imagine anything that would signal more clearly that life goes on and joy can follow tragedy than your having a much wanted child.

Most women at some point or many points in their lives will have to deal with an unwanted advance and having the confidence to be "rude" and say no is an important skill to develop.

Love is not shown by giving your toddler a car. It's better demonstrated by clapping as she bangs on pots or singing to her while she plays with her cheap little bath toys in the tub.

Sometimes people have a wild past because they have an essentially wild nature, and that's how they plan to go through life. Sometimes such people settle into happy monogamy, and can be content there because they never have to wonder, "What did I miss?"

I think it's helpful for kids to know that their parents weren't perfect, that they messed up and learned from their mistakes. So be open about some of your own struggles or express gratitude that your kids are taking advantage of the opportunities they have instead of squandering many of them, the way you did.

I try to direct people in distress to the right resources, where they can get comprehensive help. I've heard from many people that simply putting down in a letter what is going on in their lives is therapeutic in and of itself.

If you think a caregiver has an active substance abuse problem, that person should never be entrusted with your child.

If you look at books that describe the 16 personality types, you can see how different they are from each other.

It's just not right to make an innocent child suffer because of the father's misdeeds.

I marvel with distress that in 2015 we are fighting the vaccination wars. It is deeply disturbing that people who should be able to weigh discredited so-called studies instead believe garbage, and so are willing to endanger their children and others. I sincerely hope this madness burns itself out before a lot more people get hurt.

Accept the fact that life presents us with opportunities to find more than one "one", and that you have learned a mighty life lesson when the next one comes along.

If you didn't want to be written about, you shouldn't have been born to a writer!

Interfering, judgmental, and disrespectful mothers-in-law are common complaints.

As far as types preferring other types, people of the same type can understand each others' perspective very well, but also drive each other crazy because they see their flaws magnified.

Unless you work at the Republican National Committee or some other conservatively affiliated organization, people's personal political preferences should not be a criterion for employment or comfort in the workplace.

The world's full of victims and the world's full of terrible perpetrators and I want them identified and caught.

I've never gotten a letter where I thought I knew the person. But I have heard from people who think they know the letter writer.

People who have undergone a loss get a fair amount of leeway on their behavior.

Insecurity is a toxin and confidence is a tonic, so make the choice not to dwell on the worst possible case.

Children need adult men in their lives.

There are some people who do not have a wild past because being wild would make them terribly self-conscious and uncomfortable.

You may think you're married to a woman, but she's really an overgrown child.

I do feel haunted by some of the letters and the suffering people have endured. But I keep in mind that the people who write to me know that I am a journalist and an on-line advice columnist, not a social service professional.

When you expand the definition of marriage beyond one man and one woman, society can expect other consenting adults in other configurations to say that their choices deserve recognition.

I understand polyamory is different from polygamy, and doesn't share the latter's rigid and noxious views that men run the show and are the only ones allowed multiple partners.

Sure, people talk about all kinds of stuff at the office, but surely everyone has better things to do than sound like they're auditioning for Fox News.

When you're dealing with an in-law violation, I think the first line of defense is for the blood relation to have a serious talk.

The sadness from reading letters that you know you can't help because it's a person who's in extremis and their problems are not soluble by an advice column.

The biggest problem is that people want to tell the whole story, and they write letters that are way longer than anything I could possibly run.

My inbox [showed me] how much pain there is in the world. I appreciated hearing from people, but it was hard to know I couldn't do anything.

Sometimes people back themselves into corners where they think they have to make kind of an engraved-in-stone decision.

The human heart is a mysterious and sometimes dark place.

I agree that not responding, and blocking his email, is the way to deal with the man you hope falls silent again.

Keep in mind that when you tell people to come see you, they might not get the idea about when it's time to leave.

When people are really drunk they have a propensity to harm themselves and others - they fall off buildings, they drive into other cars.

It is a mystery why people think they need to act as their friends' dietitian, nonetheless it's common.

When my daughter left for college, I lost my in-house consultant to youth culture. There's just stuff I don't get. And there's something kind of pathetic about someone my age trying to pretend she gets it, so I don't try to pretend.

I spent most of my 20s dating older men, and I really wish I had spent that time dating men my own age who were going through the same experiences I was. I totally understand the appeal of a mature, dashing older man over fellow twenty-somethings who are still figuring things out. And, true, a fling with an older man can be instructive in many ways, and no doubt he finds you attractive.

I'm wondering how someone who goes around wearing a wedding ring succeeded in the dating pool. Normally a wedding ring sends a flashing "Do Not Enter" message - except to those looking for flings with married people.

Extreme picky eaters may have what's called Selective Eating Disorder. People with this experience physical and psychological discomfort over certain tastes, smells, textures.

You can't get a guarantee from everyone who appears in personal photographs that they will forever remain warm presences in one's life or sweet memories.

?s I've mentioned many times, sitting through graduation ceremonies is one of life's drearier milestones.

Obama's major accomplishment is himself. This can be an effective argument to make to undecided voters and something Obama has to artfully address.

Not many people could juggle graduate school and two jobs.

Setting up a college fund would be a great way to redirect the tangible evidence of Daddy's love.

I think the definition of someone who's still a swinger is a person who remains signed up on swinger websites because they're "humorous." If you'd been married to an alcoholic and found yourself dating someone whose couch cushions were stuffed with empty bottles, you might conclude you're part of the problem and are attracted to men who are going to keep making you miserable in the same oh-so-familiar way. I think you should look to date someone for whom the idea of a swinger website makes him want to slather himself in sanitizing gel.

The only solution seems to be for government to toughen the vaccination laws and close the loopholes that allow people to opt out for philosophical and so-called religious reasons. The laws need to make clear: no shot, no school.