Quotes from Cheryl Mendelson

I listen to lots of music, especially Bach, opera (all periods), German lieder, chamber music, and rock, old and new. I can't listen to music while I write. It's too absorbing.

I am a working woman with a secret life: I keep house.

I published only in academic journals in philosophy until I was in my 40s, but I had been writing fiction and poetry my whole adult life - without ever once trying to publish it, and rarely letting anyone read it.

We have, instead (of soot and dirt), disorganization. We have this proliferation of goods. It's the disease of the time.

Many books have mattered enormously to my life and work. 'David Copperfield' by Charles Dickens would be one of several contenders for 'most influential.' I first read it at 13 and have reread it dozens of times since.

I myself love getting cookbooks and novels that some congenial person has already tried and liked.

He was a man whose calmness reflected his confidence that he meant whatever he did-- which is different... from confidence that whatever he did was right.

What really does work to increase the feeling of having a home and its comforts is housekeeping. Housekeeping creates cleanliness, order, regularity, beauty, the conditions for health and safety, and a good place to do and feel all the things you wish and need to do and feel in your home. Whether

Housework can look like a Sisyphean task that gives you no sense of reward or completion .

Hair burns very quickly. If you have long hair, tie it back securely when you are cooking, building a fire in the fireplace, lighting your space heater, leaning toward a lit grill, or doing anything else involving flames.

Then her affection was in the soft sofa cushions, clean linens, and good meals; her memory in well-stocked storeroom cabinets and the pantry; her intelligence in the order and healthfulness of her home; her good humor in its light and air. She lived her life not only through her own body but through the house as an extension of her body; part of her relation to those she loved was embodied in the physical medium of the home she made.

Besides, I reflected darkly, you shouldn't have to be a lawyer to figure out how to do the laundry.

When you finally achieve a modus vivendi with your kitchen, you have been acculturated. You have learned a way of life.

Aperitifs, digestifs, and cocktails are remarkably fashion-sensitive and have the same ups and downs in popularity as hemlines.

I managed to persevere partly because not everyone responded with that stare; there was enthusiasm as well. And I was struck that no one responded with bored indifference. The topic was clearly hot—too hot for some people to handle, heartwarming to others.

Home life is important and housekeeping should be an enjoyable part of it .

that the way you experience life in your home is determined by how you do your housekeeping.

Home is the one place in the world where you are safe from feeling put down or out, unentitled, or unwanted.

Brew black tea for three to five minutes; oolong for about five minutes; and green teas for only a minute or two.

To taste its best, wine, especially red wine, must be uncorked and exposed to the air for a period of time before it is drunk.