I recently purchased a Kindle (rather a shock to everyone, myself included) and have been doing a bit of browsing of the free books available in Kindle format.
Many of my favorite classics are available for free, for which I am immensely grateful–but I’ve also enjoyed looking at some books that I otherwise might never have picked up. Books like Mrs. Isabella Beeton’s The Book of Household Management.
I’m not sure exactly when The Book of Household Management was written, but it was sometime between 1836 and 1865, since that is the dates of Mrs. Beeton’s life. (Crazy that she only lived to age 29!)
Some of the advice gets somewhat strange, intended as it was for a totally different age. But some of it rings out with ageless truth.
“To live well in abundance is the praise of the estate, not of the person.”
~Bishop Hall, quoted by Mrs. Isabella Mary Beeton in The Book of Household Management
It is when my resources seem insufficient that I can test and prove good management. It is no credit to me when I can live well with plenty.
“No man is rich whose expenditure exceeds his means, and no one is poor whose incomings exceed his outgoings.”
~Judge Halliburton, quoted by Mrs. Isabella Mary Beeton in The Book of Household Management
In a culture that forever cries out “more, more” and dreams of getting rich, when those around me have nicer clothing and cars and houses, this is a good reminder. Oftentimes, even in material things, I am richer than they. They are enslaved, in debt, in order to obtain their belongings. I have sufficiency and am not indebted.
“Recreation is intended to the mind as whetting is to the scythe, to sharpen the edge of it, which would otherwise grow dull and blunt. He, therefore, that spends his whole time in recreation is ever whetting, never mowing; his grass may grow and his steed starve; as, contrarily, he that always toils and never recreates, is ever mowing, never whetting, labouring much to little purpose.”
~Bishop Hall, quoted by Mrs. Isabella Mary Beeton in The Book of Household Management
I love this illustration and how it warns against the two extremes that we all are prone to fall into. May I be a sharp blade, put diligently to the task.
Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.
I can’t get past the first sentence, truly.
I’m going to be the last hold-out. I can feel it!
So excited you got a Kindle! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have mine.
Love the quotes. Sometimes the older books give us a clearer perspective on our own times…
I have a Kindle app on my HP Touchpad and iPhone, and I have enjoyed downloading some free books on it as well, though I hadn’t seen that one.
I like the balance of that last quote, too.
I can kind of see the first one, though those who don’t manage well in abundance won’t have it for long. While still in college I used to do housecleaning for a lady whose husband was a VP for a food service company. They had a really nice, luxuriant house. One day when I was cleaning the sliding glass doors, she got after me pretty strongly for cleaning the whole thing when there were only a couple of spots. Inwardly smarting from the rebuke, I thought to myself, “As if you have to worry about a few wasted drops of glass cleaner!” But later I thought, they probably didn’t get where they were by being careless and wasteful, even in the small things.
Very unexpected and interesting quotes shared for today. Thank you for the food for thought…as always!
I too have the Kindle app but I am old school, still. While I love the ease of instant book ownership (at a single click–which could be terribly dangerous!) I maintain a preference for an actual book. Freebies, though, are a definite plus to the ebook and this one you’ve quoted is very intriguing!