WIST Quotations

Alcott, Louisa May -- Little Women, Part 1, ch. 11 (1868)

Dave — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 19:39:51 +0000

Housekeeping ain’t no joke.

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) American writer
Little Women, Part 1, ch. 11 (1868)
(Source)

Labeled as a saying of the family maid and cook, Hannah. The girls recognize its truth as they take over the housekeeping for the "ailing" Mrs. Marsh.

McCarthy, Mary -- “The Vita Activa,” The New Yorker (1958-10)

Dave — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 16:46:45 +0000

Indeed, the labor of keeping house is labor in its most naked state, for labor is toil that never finishes, toil that has to be begun again the moment it is completed, toil that is destroyed and consumed by the life process.

Mary McCarthy (1912–1989) American author, critic, political activist
“The Vita Activa,” The New Yorker (1958-10)
(Source)

A review of Hanna Arendt, The Human Condition (1958). Collected in On the Contrary: Articles of Belief, 1946–1961, Part 1 (1961).

Diller, Phyllis -- Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints, ch. 1, epigraph (1966)

Dave — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 22:01:02 +0000

Cleaning your house
While your kids are still growing
Is like shoveling the walk
Before it stops snowing.

Phyllis Diller (1917–2012) American comedian, actor, author, musician
Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints, ch. 1, epigraph (1966)
(Source)

Cox, Marcelene -- “Ask Any Woman” column, Ladies’ Home Journal (1944-10)

Dave — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 16:49:57 +0000

Housekeeping is like being caught in a revolving door.

Marcelene Cox (1900–1998) American writer, columnist, aphorist
“Ask Any Woman” column, Ladies’ Home Journal (1944-10)
(Source)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Essay (1916-05), “The Parasite Woman: The Only Indispensable Citizen,” Metropolitan Magazine, Vol. 43, No. 6

Dave — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:23:00 +0000

Of all species of silliness the silliest is the assertion sometimes made that the woman whose primary lifework is taking care of her home and children is somehow a “parasite woman.” It is such a ridiculous in version of the truth that it ought not to be necessary even to allude to it.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Essay (1916-05), “The Parasite Woman: The Only Indispensable Citizen,” Metropolitan Magazine, Vol. 43, No. 6
(Source)

Collected in his The Foes of Our Own Household, ch. 11 (1917).

Gabor, Zsa Zsa -- How to Catch a Man, Keep a Man, and Get Rid of a Man (1970)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house.

Zsa Zsa Gabor (1917–2016) Hungarian-American actress, socialite [b. Sári Gábor]
How to Catch a Man, Keep a Man, and Get Rid of a Man (1970)
(Source)

When actually given a citation, this quote is attributed to this book by Gabor, though I have been unable to find a fully visible copy of the book online to confirm. Two other attributions of similar sentiments to Gabor:

He taught me housekeeping; when I divorce I keep the house.
]In Ned Sherrin, Cutting Edge (1984), regarding her fifth husband, George Sanders.]

I'm a wonderful housekeeper. Every time I get a divorce, I keep the house.
[In Sam Staggs, Finding Zsa-Zsa (2019)]