Top Jessica Mitford Quotes

Jessica Mitford Biography

Jessica Lucy 'Decca' Freeman-Mitford (11 September 1917 – 22 July 1996) was an English author, journalist, civil rights activist and political campaigner, and was one of the Mitford sisters.

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Jessica Mitford Quotes

Funeralese has had its ups and downs. The word 'morticians,' first used in Embalmers Monthly for February, 1895, was barred by the Chicago Tribune in 1932, 'not for lack of sympathy with the ambition of undertakers to be well regarded, but because of it. If they haven't the sense to save themselves from their own lexicographers, we shall not be guilty of abetting them in their folly.

1932, Ambition, Chicago, Folly, Lexicographer, Regarded

Enemies are, to me, as important as friends in my life, and when they die I mourn their passing.

Die, Enemies, Enemy, Important, Passing

A thirteen-year-old is a kaleidoscope of different personalities, if not in most ways a mere figment of her own imagination. At that age, what and who you are depends largely on what book you happen to be reading at the moment.

Book, Imagination, Largely, Reading, Years

Gracious dying is a huge, macabre and expensive joke on the American public.

Dying, Gracious, Huge, Macabre

Objectivity? I always have an objective.

Objective, Objectives, Objectivity

the prison system, inherently unjust and inhumane, is the ultimate expression of injustice and inhumanity in the society at large.

Expression, Inherently, Injustice, Society, Unjust

[On the United States:] A nation which does not appreciate that the simple elocution exercise 'Merry Mary married hairy Harry' contains not one but three vowel sounds.

Appreciate, Exercise, Married, Mary, Simple, United

Things on the whole are much faster in America; people don't 'stand for election', they 'run for office. '

America, Office, People, Running, Stand, Whole

When is conduct a crime, and when is a crime not a crime? When "Somebody Up There" - a monarch, a dictator, a Pope, a legislator - so decrees.

Crime, Dictator, Government, Prison, Somebody

the whole point of muck-raking, apart from all the jokes, is to try to do something about what you've been writing about. You may not be able to change the world but at least you can embarrass the guilty.

Guilty, Jokes, Point, Trying, World, Writing

Objectivity? I've always had an objective.

Objective, Objectives, Objectivity

Knowing few children of my age with whom to compare notes, I envied the children of literature to whom interesting things were always happening.

Children, Envied, Interesting, Knowing, Things

I have nothing against undertakers personally. It's just that I wouldn't want one to bury my sister.

Bury, My Sister, Sister, Sister In Law, Undertakers, Want

Picking other people's brains is an art worth cultivating.

Art, Brain, Brains, People, Picking

lifelong enemies are, I think, as hard to make and as important to one's well-being as lifelong friends.

Enemies, Enemy, Friends, Important, Make, Thinking

In childbirth, as in other human endeavors, fashions start with the rich, are then adopted by the aspirant middle class with an assist from the ever-watchful media, and may or may not eventually filter down to the poor.

Aspirant, Class, Fashion, Human, Media, Rich

Growing up in the English countryside seemed an interminable process. Freezing winter gave way to frosty spring, which in turn merged into chilly summer-but nothing ever, ever happened.

Chilly, Growing Up, Merged, Spring, Summer, Winter

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Where, indeed. Many a badly stung survivor, faced with the aftermath of some relative's funeral, has ruefully concluded that the victory has been won hands down by a funeral establishment - in disastrously unequal battle.

Death, Faced, Funeral, Hands, Survivor, Victory

The character and mentality of the keepers may be of more importance in understanding prisons than the character and mentality of the kept.

Character, Importance, Keepers, Kept, May, Understanding

Things on the whole are faster in America; people don't stand for election, they run for office. If a person says he's sick, it doesn't mean regurgitating, it means ill. Mad means angry, not insane. Don't ask for the left-luggage; it's called a checkroom.

America, Mad, Mean, People, Running, Sick

Jessica Mitford Biography

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