Hosting Etiquette Quotes

If I host something, even if it's just dinner at my house, I like the event to move. So that means cocktails in the family room, and then moving outside and having appetizers on the patio, and then moving to dinner at the dining table. It's just the idea of the event being curated to every little detail.

A guest is a jewel on the cushion of hospitality

Whenever Roosevelt (Theodore) expected a visitor, he sat up late the night before, reading up on the subject in which he knew his guest was particularly interested. For Roosevelt knew, all the leaders royal road to a person's heart is to talk about the things he or she treasures most.

Never let 'em see you sweat. Guests feel guilty if they think you've worked too hard to make dinner for them - which of course you have!

Few enjoy noisy overcrowded functions. But they are a gesture of goodwill on the part of host or hostess, and also on the part of guests who submit to them.

If you're cooking for someone important - whether it's your boss or a date - never try a new recipe and a new ingredient at the same time.

One thing about the fantasy dinner party idea that no one considers is whether these people are going to get on. I would say John McEnroe and Ian McEwan, but what would they have to say to each other?

To dismiss a guest is a more ungracious act than not to admit him at all.

I never invite idiots to my house.

Oh, where are my manners? Do sit down. Pull up a small child.

I have a bag full of stuff that I give to people when they come to my house.

I think the biggest part of a good party is the host and then going around making sure nobody's left alone and knows enough about the people in the room to know who to introduce to whom.

He who would have fine guests, let him have a fine wife.

For a host, above all, must be kind to his guests.

In order to prove a friend to one's guests, frugality must reign in one's meals; and, according to an ancient saying, one must eat to live, not live to eat.

The custom of going to a party only when we have been invited is a necessary, attractive, decent way for a party to evolve.

It's stylish to have people over. But unstylish to make them bring food. It's so tacky, making everybody appear at the door with a dish. Better to order in, use a caterer or bring prepared food into your kitchen.

For whom he means to make an often guest, One dish shall serve; and welcome make the rest.

For a single woman, preparing for company means wiping the lipstick off the milk carton.

He makes his cook his merit, and the world visits his dinners and not him.

My momma says whenever you go to somebody's house, you have to give them something. Don't come empty-handed.

At home, we're listening to TV or playing with our computers, so our entertaining is rusting. We don't know how to be good hosts and guests in business situations.

When I make a feast, I would my guests should praise it, not the cooks.

What bothers me is that there is so much emphasis on food, rather than gathering and meeting - so that there is all this effort in creating the right food, whereas the food is only a small part of whether the encounter is successful or not.

I’m not being weird, you’re being a little rude. Don’t you think as a host, when I say ‘this is what I want to talk about’ that’s what we should address?