“The few men who do a hand's turn around the house expect gratitude and recognition, so sure are they that, though it is their dirt, it is not their job.”

—  Germaine Greer

Housework (pg. 141)
The Whole Woman (1999)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The few men who do a hand's turn around the house expect gratitude and recognition, so sure are they that, though it is…" by Germaine Greer?
Germaine Greer photo
Germaine Greer 73
Australian feminist author 1939

Related quotes

John Muir photo

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.”

John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author

I searched for keywords of that text in his books online and on an electronic copy of Muir of the Mountains, and was unable to find it. On rare occasions we find something in Muir's unpublished journals that is new and which can be verified. So I also did a search of the John Muir Papers at the University of the Pacific, and once again came up empty:
Misattributed

Confucius photo

“Act with kindness but do not expect gratitude.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Edgar Guest photo

“The difference 'twixt good and bad is not so very much,
A few more minutes at the task, an extra turn or touch,
A final test that all is right—and yet the men are few
Who seem to think it worth their while these extra things to do.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Source: All That Matters (1922), p.50 - Clinching the Bolt, stanza 3.

Gordon Brown photo

“It is time to train British workers for the British jobs that will be available over the coming few years and to make sure that people who are inactive and unemployed are able to get the new jobs on offer in our country.”

Gordon Brown (1951) British Labour Party politician

"Brown pledges 'British workers for British jobs'", Evening Standard, 5 June 2007, p. 1.
Speech to the GMB Union, 5 June 2007.
Chancellor of the Exchequer

Peter Gabriel photo

“Don't talk back;
Just drive the car.
Shut your mouth;
I know what you are.
Don't say nothing;
Keep your hands on the wheel.
Don't turn around;
This is for real.
Digging in the dirt.
Stay with me, I need support.
I'm digging in the dirt
To find the places I got hurt.
Open up the places I got hurt.”

Peter Gabriel (1950) English singer-songwriter, record producer and humanitarian

Digging in the Dirt
Song lyrics, Us (1992)

Milorad Pavić photo

“Houses are like books: so many of them around you, yet you only look at a few and visit or reside in fewer still.”

Milorad Pavić (1929–2009) Serbian writer
Margaret Chase Smith photo

“My creed is that public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people and to the nation with full recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration, that constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought, that smears are not only to be expected but fought, that honor is to be earned but not bought.”

Margaret Chase Smith (1897–1995) Member of the United States Senate from Maine

Statement (11 November 1953); also in Declaration of Conscience‎ (1972) by Margaret Chase Smith, p. xi

Stephen King photo

“French is the language that turns dirt into romance.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Time (October 6, 1986)

Rutherford B. Hayes photo

“Do what is natural to you, and you are sure to get all the recognition you are entitled to.”

Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) American politician, 19th President of the United States (in office from 1877 to 1881)

Diary (20 November 1872)
Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1922 - 1926)
Context: I have a talent for silence and brevity. I can keep silent when it seems best to do so, and when I speak I can, and do usually, quit when I am done. This talent, or these two talents, I have cultivated. Silence and concise, brief speaking have got me some laurels, and, I suspect, lost me some. No odds. Do what is natural to you, and you are sure to get all the recognition you are entitled to.

Related topics