Character and Conduct – 22 December – Hospitality

THE truest hospitality is shown not in the effort to entertain, but in the depth of welcome.   What a guest loves to come for, and come again, is not the meal, but those who sit at the meal.   If we remembered this, more homes would be habitually thrown open to win the benedictions upon hospitality.   It is our ceremony, not our poverty, it is self-consciousness oftener than inability to be agreeable that makes us willing to live cloistered.   Seldom is it that pleasantest homes to visit are the richest.   The real compliment is not to apologise for the simple fare.   That means trust, and trust is better than fried oysters. 

W.C. GANNETT

HOSPITALITY must be for service, and not for show, or it pulls down the host. 

EMERSON

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These quotes are from ‘Character and Conduct’ A selection of helpful thoughts from various authors arranged for daily reading.

Collected by Constance M Whishaw and first published in 1905 as a follow up to her volume of Daily Readings for members of the Being and Doing Guild who asked for an additional volume

In her preface Whishaw writes:

‘This collection of noble thoughts expressed by men and women of past and present ages who have endeavoured to leave the world a little better than they found it.’

It is my hope in publishing them here is that readers may be inspired to imitate the example of the authors.