"People forgot that the human soul can enjoy a thing most when there is time to think about it and be thankful for it."~~G.K. Chesterton
"There is a good deal to be said for excluding literature from school curricula altogether. I am not sure that the best way to make a boy love the English poets might not be to forbid him to read them and then make sure that he had plenty of opportunities to disobey you."~~C.S. Lewis
"The ordinary arts we practice everyday at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest."~~Thomas More
"To live within a just order is to live within a pattern that has beauty. The individual finds purpose within an order, and security-whether it is the order of the soul or the order of the community. Without order, indeed the life of man is poor, nasty, brutish, and short."~~Russell Kirk
"Gargantuanism and the care of souls cannot coexist."~~Thomas Chalmers
"I am always hopeful that the pendulum will swing back and that women will see again not only the necessity of a mother's being at home, but also the infinite and rich choice in that occupation for women of all ages. Some will complain of monotony, but how few going out to a paid job have the opportunity to make their own schedules, to choose the routine of their week's labor, to follow up creative interests that women have within the home. Our ever-present disciplines, the pattern of creaturely necessities-cooking, laundry, decently clean houses-are a blessing. Beyond the physical care of the family, for better or worse we are shaping souls and characters. women learn slowly the magnitude of their influence. Perhaps we would be more contented if we could realize that one of the few remaining free prefessions is that of a housewife. If a woman resents being just a housewife, let her be called an artist . . ."~~Josephine Moffett Benton
Thank you for sharing these, Martha. I especially like the Thomas More quote and the Josephine Moffett Benton (do you know context on this one?) is perfect to share with a young woman friend who was asking me questions about his very subject just this week. I don't resent being "just a housewife" but have thought of the artist connection before. I prefer the term homemaker :)
ReplyDeleteThe Benton quote comes for her book, _At the Pace of a Hen_, but I don't know more about it than that, unfortunately. I think I gleaned this quote from The Common Room. The book is on all my wish lists, and one day I'll have to break down and just buy it. ;-)
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