Letitia Baldrige Quotes
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For every step forward in electronic communications, we've taken two steps back in humanity. People know how to use a computer and answering machines but have forgotten how to connect with one another. Our society is unraveling. We're too self-obsessed.
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If the flu situation in your town is serious, cancel a large long-awaited party you had scheduled, but promise the guests in an e-mail that you will reschedule the party as soon as possible.
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Manners make the world work. They're not only based on kindness but also efficiency. When people know what to do, the world is smoother. When no one knows what to do, it's chaos.
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Arranging an official dinner in an embassy is a little like writing a script for a play. The prolog is the guest list, often the most difficult part of the whole creative operation.
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A really first-class company uses really fine stationery.
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To have people to the White House and worry about the price of things is laughable.
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You don't need the White House to please people. You can be 24, earning $22,000 a year, and have people over to your tiny apartment. It's all about sharing and thinking about what will make others happy.
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An excellent wine, someone's best attempt at cooking, and the candles and flowers on the table can turn the simplest dinner into an unforgettably romantic event.
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Going to a party uninvited always has been a negative action. It never has been acceptable. At the very least, it upsets kitchen preparations, parking arrangements, and even details such as space for hanging coats and depositing dripping umbrellas.
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Go to any bookstore, and you'll see thousands of books on etiquette, which suggests there's a lot of self-help going on. There is hope.
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If you are someone's guest on a corporate jet, the most important thing to remember is not just to be on time, but to be early. If you hold up the departure of the jet by as much as 10 minutes, you may cause the plane to wait in line for another hour or two before obtaining new clearance.
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Most people don't know how to take compliments. That's the biggest problem in America - we're hesitant to give compliments and embarrassed at getting them.
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Administrations had come and gone in Pennsylvania Avenue, but many old entertaining traditions had survived - thru habit and not thru merit.
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At tea time, all the noise, greed and aggressiveness of the '80s can be drowned out. For 45 minutes, anyway.
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I talk about beepers going off in the middle of a concert and people being late and not apologizing, and people not RSVP-ing, and adult children going back to live with their parents, which we didn't have in the '60s and '70s.
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When somebody throws something out the car window, honk at them, but don't give them the finger. We've got to temper our negative feelings about people who desecrate the environment.
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The best thing we can do to save the planet is set a good example for our kids at home.
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I'm for anything that teaches consideration and kindness. If one can teach one's son to dance with the ugliest little girl in the room, that's the best lesson they can ever learn.
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When in doubt, look at what everyone else is doing.
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If you take five taxis a day, one driver will be nasty, and the other four are perfectly nice. You remember the nasty one. But you should remember the four who were nice.
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I've had three broken legs and two knee replacements. But I'm very good at apres golf.
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We're a nation of latchkey children. Manners start at home, and no one is at home teaching manners so that children have respect for others.
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There is so much bad manners and oafishness in large corporations.
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The whole art of flirting has simply disappeared. This probably will do further damage. If we're going to become so uptight that we can't say nice things to each other, then we've had it!