The first book really was kind of an entertaining textbook for the homemaker. I couldn’t find a good book about entertaining in 1982, and neither could my friend, so I decided to write it.
Our passion is and should always be to make life better.
Your home should be a reflection of how you want to live right now, and for the next phase of your life.
Buttons are the fossils of the sartorial world, enduring long past the garments they were designed to hold together.
It is within everyone’s grasp to be a CEO.
I want you to know that I am innocent – and that I will fight to clear my name.
I live in an old house with no closets and no built-ins. I hate big cupboards.
I love dessert. I can’t be guilty about it because I have to taste everything. I experiment.
I’m never sick. Why get sick? It’s a waste of time.
Giving information that will help everybody live better. That’s a teacher’s dream-to accumulate information and disperse it in a form that allows people to choose the way they’re going to use it. That’s what I think I do best.
We’re not so free that we don’t have to listen to rules, and laws, and regulations. Those are important. But the spirit, the freedom of the spirit, that’s what I think of American Dream, that we are free here to do what we want to do, what we set out to do.
It’s sort of the American way to go up and down the ladder, maybe several times in a lifetime.
Over the years, I learned so much from mom. She taught me about the importance of home and history and family and tradition. She also taught me that aging need not mean narrowing the scope of your activities and interests or a diminution of the great pleasures to be had in the everyday.
To entertain at home is both a relief and a rediscovery – of rooms and settings, of your favorite things, and particularly of your own tastes and ideas.
I was a very good cook, and I knew I could build a business.
I was a very curious person because of my parents. They encouraged me to be as curious about as many things as I wanted.
Broaden yourself. You don’t have to focus when you’re 20. I think the broader you are, the better it is. Later you can focus on your real interests and ideas. The ultimate goal is to be an interesting, useful, wholesome person. If you’re successful on top of that, then you’re way ahead of everybody.
Fifty-seven percent of Americans are do-it-yourselfers, craftspeople, and artisans and makers.
Everywhere I go, I always look for creative entrepreneurs, whether it’s artisans and craftsmen, small farmers and gardeners, or restaurateurs who use fresh, locally sourced ingredients. I admire the courage and self-reliance it takes to start your own business and make it succeed.
Loving yourself is good for your health.
Don’t give up. Defend your ideas, but be flexible. Success seldom comes in exactly the form you imagine.