“A man can afford to let himself go in a hen-house.”

— J.B. Priestley

Bk 1, Ch. 1. iii
The Good Companions (1929)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 20, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A man can afford to let himself go in a hen-house." by J.B. Priestley?

J.B. Priestley photo

J.B. Priestley 35

English writer 1894–1984

Related quotes

“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.”

Henry David Thoreau book Walden ou la vie dans les bois

Variant: A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
Source: Walden

“Not even on finding himself in a well-ordered house does a man step forward and say to himself, I must be master here! Else the lord of that house”

Epictetus (50–138) philosopher from Ancient Greece

Golden Sayings of Epictetus
Context: Not even on finding himself in a well-ordered house does a man step forward and say to himself, I must be master here! Else the lord of that house takes notice of it, and, seeing him insolently giving orders, drags him forth and chastises him. So it is also in the great City, the World. Here also is there a Lord of the House, who orders all things... (110).

“I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring - I wrote my very best poem while sitting on the hen-house.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

“It is possible to imagine a society flushed with such a sense of power that it could afford to let its offenders go unpunished.”

Friedrich Nietzsche book On the Genealogy of Morality

Essay 2, Section 10
On the Genealogy of Morality (1887)

“Young men can be impetuous, young men can be rush, young men can be fools, but the Car'a'carn cannot let himself be a young man.”

Robert Jordan (1948–2007) American writer

Nandera to Rand al'Thor
(15 October 1994)

“Can the man say, Fiat lux, Let there be light; and out of chaos make a world? Precisely as there is light in himself, will he accomplish this.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Poet

“If a man be gloomy, let him keep to himself. No one has a right to go croaking about society, or, what is worse, looking as if he stifled grief.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Book V, Chapter 1.
Books, Coningsby (1844), The Young Duke (1831)

“[Mim, to Nelson, about Annabelle] "She's letting herself go. You can't afford in life to do that if you're gonna contend."”

John Updike book Rabbit Remembered

Rabbit Remembered (2000)

“A man should build a house with his own hands before he calls himself an engineer.”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn book One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962)

“Our greatest polluter is the government (i.e., U.S. military), not corporate America. Putting government in charge of protecting the environment is like asking the fox to guard the hen house.”

Mary Ruwart (1949) American scientist and libertarian activist

Source: Short Answers to the Tough Questions: How to Answer the Questions Libertarians Are Often Asked, (2012), p. 48

Related topics