A Quote by Judith Martin

When politeness is used to show up other people, it is reclassified as rudeness. Thus it is technically impossible to be too polite.

Judith Martin

Quote Topics

Impossible Other People Polite Politeness Rudeness Show Technically Thus Too Up Used

Quote Author

Judith Martin
American - Author
Born: September 13, 1938

Nobody thanks a witty man for politeness when he puts himself on a par with a society in which it would not be polite to show one's wit.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Etiquette does not render you defenseless. If it did, even I wouldn't subscribe to it. But rudeness in retaliation for rudeness just doubles the amount of rudeness in the world.

Judith Martin

Solitude is used to teach us how to live with other people. Rage is used to show us the infinite value of peace. Boredom is used to underline the importance of adventure & spontaneity. Silence is used to teach us to use words responsibly. Tiredness is used so that we can understand the value of waking up. Illness is used to underline the blessing of good health. Fire is used to teach us about water. Earth is used so that we can understand the value of air. Death is used to show us the importance of life.

Paulo Coelho

Politeness. Now there's a poor man's virtue if ever there was one. What's so admirable about inoffensiveness, I should like to know. After all, it's easily achieved. One needs no particular talent to be polite. On the contrary, being nice is what's left when you've failed at everything else. People with ambition don't give a damn what other people think about them.

Diane Setterfield

If you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.

Stephen King

Politeness is a desire to be treated politely, and to be esteemed polite oneself.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The uber polite people who are the neighbors to our north and how we can be so different and yet so the same because Canadians are supremely polite. They're kind and they're just so welcoming to a bunch of American and British artists here filming their show.

Tamlyn Tomita

Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.

Otto von Bismarck

I know people who prepare their roles in such a way that they technically look ahead and memorize their gestures, and then they stick to it. Those that are technically proficient enough can make it seem natural, but they do that and don't really take in what other people are doing.

Viggo Mortensen

People are not as nice as they used to be. There used to be a time when we conversed. You don't get a lot of real responses now. They used to be more polite and well-mannered people, generally. It's minimal now.

Aretha Franklin

I've been polite and I've always shown up. Somebody asked me if I had any advice for young people entering the business. I said: "Yeah, show up.

Tom T. Hall

I had a show that people thought used a laugh track. It wasn't; it was the real audience going crazy after everything that resembled a joke, that they could technically call a joke.

Norm MacDonald

A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.

Robert A. Heinlein

Television is much more complex, brain-challenging and involved than it used to be. It's almost impossible to watch a television show from 15 years ago; it's just too boring. I think modern television shows, with their intricate plots, are stimulating our minds. This is one reason IQs have been going up.

Alex Tabarrok

Liberals create a world that's not real. They create a world where it's impossible to be obedient. It's impossible to go through the day not violating some precious liberal tenet. And, as such, they end up getting rid of people. So somebody like Trump comes along and it's culture shock, it's all kinds of things. And a guy like Trump would not be permitted in polite Washington society.