An American will build a house in which to pass his old age and sell it before the roof is on.
—Alexis de Tocqueville, 1840
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Quotes
The home is a human institution. All human institutions are open to improvement.
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1903Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.
—William Morris, 1882Hatred of domestic work is a natural and admirable result of civilization.
—Rebecca West, 1912Being offended is the natural consequence of leaving one’s home.
—Fran Lebowitz, 1981I quit life as from an inn, not as from a home.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 44 BCAn exile with no home anywhere is a corpse without a grave.
—Publilius Syrus, 50 BCOne who is frivolous all day will never establish a household.
—Ptahhotep, c. 2400 BCIn the matter of furnishing, I find a certain absence of ugliness far worse than ugliness.
—Colette, 1944Many a man who thinks to found a home discovers that he has merely opened a tavern for his friends.
—Norman Douglas, 1917