Time & Perspective Quote by Groucho Marx

Weaponized politeness is Groucho Marx's specialty, and this line is a perfect little switchblade. On its face, it sounds like the kind of practical note you might leave yourself: a reminder for later. Then the blade flips out: the reminder is to stop engaging with the very person you're addressing. The joke lands because it performs a social ritual (conversation as mutual goodwill) while simultaneously revoking it, right there in public.

The intent is insult, but delivered with an offhand, almost administrative calm. Groucho doesn't say, "You're unbearable". He implies it by pretending the problem is his own loose impulse to chat, as if talking to you is a personal bad habit he needs to manage. That rhetorical misdirection lets him be cruel without sounding angry; it's the comedian's version of plausible deniability.

The subtext is all status. The speaker claims the power to opt out of interaction, to treat the other person as a regrettable indulgence. Yet the line also admits something slyly human: if he needs reminding, he expects to be tempted again. Annoying people have a gravitational pull, and Groucho admits he's not immune, just better armed.

Contextually, it fits the Marx Brothers' world: rapid-fire banter where language is less about communicating than winning. In that vaudeville-to-Hollywood tradition, wit becomes a form of self-defense and social currency. The sentence is clean enough to memorize, sharp enough to repeat, and elastic enough to use anywhere someone has overstayed their welcome. That's why it survives: it's not just a punchline, it's a portable boundary with a laugh track attached.