Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“What’s the good of a home, if you are never in it?”
- Source
- The Diary of a Nobody
- Date
- 1892
- Local voice
- Fictional narrator · Charles Pooter
Meaning of “What’s the good of a home, if you…”
Pooter turns his preference for staying home into a miniature philosophy, funny because the diary repeatedly treats ordinary domestic habits as matters of high principle.
Where does it come from?
The Diary of a Nobody, Chapter I, before the dated diary entries; Project Gutenberg #1026. After describing The Laurels and its back garden, Charles Pooter says “What’s the good of a home, if you are never in it?” and makes “Home, Sweet Home” his motto. The sentence belongs to Pooter’s domestic self-characterization inside diary fiction rather than a general lifestyle rule from the Grossmith brothers.
Why the local voice matters
Pooter writes this as part of his diary narration.
