Quotes About Hospitality

When Mrs. Ferrier stepped inside our front door at one minute before three that afternoon it was perfectly clear to me without hesitation that we were not going to become fast friends.

Sosil said a cat licking herself meant a guest was coming.

We helped ourselves to a drop of vishniak, had some more marmalade, and made small talk. What about? Don't ask me.

Who was he talking to? Me? No one ever said "please" to me. I looked around. There was no one else in the room. Old Luria growled again in a deep voice: "Please come and have a look at the Rambam.

Your whole house smells of dog, says someone who comes to visit. I say I'll take care of it. Which I do by never inviting that person to visit again. • • •

Kristin held the child while the young mother went to get a drink of local ale.

Afterward they would go to the guild hall, which stood near Hofvin Hospice; there they would drink for five days.

she had learned that the world is like a tavern - where he who has naught more to spend from is cast out at the door.

The validity of the cook's work is to be found only in the mouths of those at her table; she needs their approbation, demands that they appreciate her dishes and call for second helpings; she is upset if they are not hungry, to the point that one wonders whether the fried potatoes are for her husband or her husband for the fried potatoes.

And for all her theoretical desire to make their house a refuge for him and for whomever he liked to invite, she had never learned to keep her opinions of people to herself. When she was bored by callers, she would beg Do you mind if I run up to bed now--such a headache, with a bright friendliness which fooled no one save herself, and which left their guests chilled and awkward.

and every one desired to know of him only two things: Was this his first visit to England? and How long would he stay? And they didn't seem to care so very much about either. He wondered how many times he himself had asked foreign visitors to the Revelation plant--Britishers, Swedes, Germans, Frenchmen-- whether this was their first visit to America, and How long did they plan to stay?

Flowers in earthenware jugs are everywhere. There's an old-fashioned range and a scrubbed wooden table and a stable door open to the outside. As I'm wondering whether I should be making conversation, a chicken wanders in and starts scratching at the ground.

I want to create spaces for people to enjoy, not admire. There's a bit of the child in all of us. Life's too short for minimalism.

I was re-reading The Gracious Hostess last night, and it says that even if your guest is annoying you, you must behave with charm and decorum. Well, fine. I can be charming. I can be decorative.

I try to pay for lunch, but Sam point-blank refuses, so we compromise on going Dutch.

Brothers in old age, two of a kind, he and our guest here.

I've been working in boutique hotels my whole life.

In its current incarnation in my life touring is a lot of airports and hotels and car services and only OK food.

That place is happy over which a holy man builds a house, with fire, cattle, wife, children and good followers

Never say no to coffee

My son, Edward, at 4, to a neighbor boy who was being a pain in our backyard: "Oh, don't whine. my mom will throw you right out of here.

If you drink the good wine of the noble countess, you have to entertain her less desirable friends.

When you're feeding the second coachload of tourists that day you aren't thinking about the birthday party for fifty next week.

Who depends on another man's table often dines late.