Amy Vanderbilt Quotations

One face to the world, another at home - makes for misery.

Do not speak of repulsive matters at table.

The modern rule is that every woman should be her own chaperon.

The best-dressed women I know pay very little attention to the picayune aspects of fashion, but they have a sound understanding of style.

We must learn which ceremonies may be breached occasionally at our convenience and which ones may never be if we are to live pleasantly with our fellow man.

I am a journalist in the field of etiquette. I try to find out what the most genteel people regularly do, what traditions they have discarded, what compromises they have made.

In Hollywood, not to have an analyst is virtually an admission of failure ...

Ceremony is-really a protection, too, in times of emotional involvement, particularly at death. If we have a social formula to guide us and do not have to extemporize, we feel better able to handle life.

I have no use for people who exhibit manners.

Breakfast is the one meal at which it is permissible to read the paper ...