There was no singles problem until singles got so single-minded that they stopped wasting time with anyone ineligible. Before that, it was understood that one of society's main tasks was matchmaking. People with lifelong friendships and ties to local nonprofessional organizations did not have to fear that isolation would accompany retirement, old age, or losing a spouse. Overburdened householders could count on the assistance not only of their own extended families, but of the American tradition of neighborliness.

When you consider how epidemic boredom is in our time, you have to concede that entertaining is a healing art.

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 rationale that etiquette should be eschewed because it fosters inequality does not ring true in a society that openly admits to a feverish interest in the comparative status-conveying qualities of sneakers. Manners are available to all, for free.

If written directions alone would suffice, libraries wouldn't need to have the rest of the universities attached.

Allowing an unimportant mistake to pass without comment is a wonderful social grace.

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.