It is a widespread and firm belief among guests that their departure is always a matter of distress to their hosts, and that in order to indicate that they have been pleasantly entertained, they must demonstrate an extreme unwillingness to allow the entertainment to conclude. This is not necessarily true.

Life is full of wonderful passions that come and go over the years, but the only one that will never let you down is reading.

The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don't have to pay taxes - naturally, no one wants to live any other way.

People will say, 'Seventy isn't old, it's middle-aged,' and I think, middle of what - 140?

To sacrifice the principles of manners, which require compassion and respect, and bat people over the head with their ignorance of etiquette rules they cannot be expected to know is both bad manners and poor etiquette. That social climbers and twits have misused etiquette throughout history should not be used as an argument for doing away with it.

Smart people duck when they hear the dread announcement 'I'm going to be perfectly honest with you.

Manners require showing consideration of all human beings, not just the ones to whom one is close.