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Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.

Hospitality

When friends are at your hearthside met,
Sweet courtesy has done its most
If you have made each guest forget
That he himself is not the host.
Aldrich—Hospitality.

If my best wines mislike thy taste,
And my best service win thy frown,
Then tarry not, I bid thee haste;
There’s many another Inn in town.
Aldrich—Quits.

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where highways never ran,—
But let me live by the side of the road,
And be a friend to man.
Sam Walter Foss—House by the Side of the Road.

Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by;
They are good, they are bad; they are weak, they are strong.
Wise, foolish.—so am I;
Then why should I sit in the scorner’s seat,
Or hurl the cynic’s ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
And be a friend to man.
Sam Walter Foss—House by the Side of the Road.

He kept no Christmas-house for once a yeere,
Each day his boards were fild with Lordly fare:
He fed a rout of yeoman with his cheer,
Nor was his bread and beefe kept in with care;
His wine and beere to strangers were not spare,
And yet beside to all that hunger greved,
His gates were ope, and they were there relived.
Robert Greene—A Maiden’s Dream. L. 232.

Axylos, Teuthranos’s son that dwelt in stablished Arisbe; a man of substance dear to his fellows; for his dwelling was by the road-side and he entertained all men.
Homer—Iliad. Bk. VI. L. 12. Lang’s Trans.

True friendship’s laws are by this rule express’d,
Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest.
Homer—Odyssey. Bk. XV. L. 83. Pope’s trans.

For ’t is always fair weather
When good fellows get together
With a stein on the table and a good song ringing clear.
Richard Hovey—Spring.

Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men!
Jeremiah. IX. 2.

Hospitality sitting with gladness.
Longfellow—Translation from Frithiof’s Saga.

So saying, with despatchful looks in haste
She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. V. L. 331.

Hospes nullus tam in amici hospitium diverti potest,
Quin ubi triduum continuum fuerit jam odiosus siet.
No one can be so welcome a guest that he will not become an annoyance when he has stayed three continuous days in a friend’s house.
Plautus—Miles Gloriosus. III. 3. 12.

For I, who hold sage Homer’s rule the best,
Welcome the coming, speed the going guest.
Pope—Satire II. Bk. II. L. 159.

Given to hospitality.
Romans. XII. 13.

My master is of churlish disposition
And little recks to find the way to heaven
By doing deeds of hospitality.
As You Like It. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 80.

I am your host;
With robbers’ hands my hospitable favours
You should not ruffle thus.
King Lear. Act III. Sc. 7. L. 39.

I charge thee, invite them all: let in the tide
Of knaves once more; my cook and I’ll provide.
Timon of Athens. Act III. Sc. 4. L. 118.

Ah me, why did they build my house by the road to the market town?
Rabindranath Tagore—Gardener. 4.

The lintel low enough to keep out pomp and pride;
The threshold high enough to turn deceit aside;
The doorband strong enough from robbers to defend;
This door will open at a touch to welcome every friend.
Henry Van Dyke—Inscription for a Friend’s House.

A host in himself.
Wellington. Of Lord John Russell. Related by Samuel Rogers. (1839). Paraphrase of Homer’s epithet of Ajax. See Pope’s trans. of Iliad. III. 293.