Life Is Full Of Wonderful Passions That

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.

When Someone Has Tried To Please You, It Is Rude, As Well As Disheartening, To Respond By Announcing That The Effort Was A Failure.

Visiting The Sick Is Supposed To Exhibit Such Great Virtue That There Are Some People Determined To Do It Whether The Sick Like It Or Not. ... All Visitors Everywhere Are Supposed To Make Plans To Depart If They Observe Their Hosts Visibly Wilting Or In Pain, But This Is Especially True At Hospitals.

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.

One Reason That The Task Of Inventing Manners Is So Difficult Is That Etiquette Is Folk Custom, And People Have Emotional Ties To The Forms Of Their Youth. That Is Why There Is Such Hostility Between Generations In Times Of Rapid Change; Their Manners Being Different, Each Feels Affronted By The Other, Taking Even The Most Surface Choices For Challenges.