--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The domestic life of most classes is…" description: "\"The domestic life of most classes is relatively shabby, as compared with the éclat of that overt portion of their life that is carried on before the ey..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/thorstein-veblen-10833_class_the-domestic-life-of-most-classes-is-rel_2321587.jpg" --- # The domestic life of most classes is relatively shabby, as… ![“The domestic life of most classes is relatively shabby, as compared with the éclat of that overt portion of their life that is carried on before the eyes of observers.” quote by Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/thorstein-veblen-10833_class_the-domestic-life-of-most-classes-is-rel_2321587.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/thorstein-veblen-10833_class_the-domestic-life-of-most-classes-is-rel_2321587.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/thorstein-veblen-10833_class_the-domestic-life-of-most-classes-is-rel_2321587.jpg) > “The domestic life of most classes is relatively shabby, as compared with the éclat of that overt portion of their life that is carried on before the eyes of observers.” [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People present a polished public image while their private lives are modest, highlighting social status concerns. **In simple terms:** Public image vs. private reality. Key Takeaway Align personal values with public behavior. Themes status appearance social class hypocrisy Mood critical reflective Type sociological observational When to use this quote - social media use - corporate branding - family gatherings Key Concepts sociology consumer culture self-presentation Questions to Reflect On - Why do we hide imperfections? - How does status affect relationships? A Different Perspective Public expectations can pressure authenticity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class/) [Domestic life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/domestic-life/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) ## Related quotes > [Our classes were relatively small. Those small classes can feel like family. 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And I still find myself asking the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-mccullin/i-feel-shabby-because-i-ve-made-a-name-quite-a-good-name-out-of/) [Don McCullin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-mccullin/) > [It is a wonderful advantage to a man, in every pursuite or avocation, to secure an adviser in a sensible woman. In woman there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-bulwer-lytton-1st-baron-lytton/it-is-a-wonderful-advantage-to-a-man-in-every-pursuite-or-avocation/) [Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-bulwer-lytton-1st-baron-lytton/) > [Wise kings wear shabby clothes, and leave the gold lace to the drum major.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/wise-kings-wear-shabby-clothes-and-leave-the-gold-lace-to-the-drum/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The evening before my departure for Blithedale, I was returning to my bachelor-apartments, after attending the wonderful exhibition of the Veiled Lady, when an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-evening-before-my-departure-for-blithedale-i-was-returning-to-my/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [It is curious, isn't it, that things you know well never look dirty and dilapidated-other people's old furniture looks shabby and moth-eaten. “I would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-e-stevenson/it-is-curious-isn-t-it-that-things-you-know-well-never-look-dirty-and/) [D.E. Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-e-stevenson/) > [“Inside the girl’s room it was dank and shabby.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christa-faust/inside-the-girl-s-room-it-was-dank-and-shabby/) [Christa Faust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christa-faust/) > [Drop this mean and sordid and selfish devotion to the saving of your shabby little souls, and hunt up something to do that's got…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/drop-this-mean-and-sordid-and-selfish-devotion-to-the-saving-of-your/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Most of our love is shabby stuff, but there is always a thin line of gold, the bit of pure love on which all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/most-of-our-love-is-shabby-stuff-but-there-is-always-a-thin-line-of/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [In other countries, art and literature are left to a lot of shabby bums living in attics and feeding on booze and spaghetti, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/in-other-countries-art-and-literature-are-left-to-a-lot-of-shabby/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [I never have held death in contempt, though in the course of my explorations I have oftentimes felt that to meet one's fate on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-muir/i-never-have-held-death-in-contempt-though-in-the-course-of-my/) [John Muir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-muir/) > [Humor is widely used by Indians to deal with life. Indian gatherings are marked by laughter and jokes, many directed at the horrors of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-gunn-allen/humor-is-widely-used-by-indians-to-deal-with-life-indian-gatherings/) [Paula Gunn Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-gunn-allen/) > [I was haunted always by my other life-my drab room in the Bronx, my square foot of the subway, my fixation upon the day's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/i-was-haunted-always-by-my-other-life-my-drab-room-in-the-bronx-my/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) ## More by Thorstein Veblen > [Born in iniquity and conceived in sin, the spirit of nationalism has never ceased to bend human institutions to the service of dissension and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/born-in-iniquity-and-conceived-in-sin-the-spirit-of-nationalism-has/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [In aesthetic theory it might be extremely difficult, if not quite impracticable, to draw a line between the canon of classicism, or regard for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/in-aesthetic-theory-it-might-be-extremely-difficult-if-not-quite/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The addiction to sports, therefore, in a peculiar degree marks an arrested development in man's moral nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-addiction-to-sports-therefore-in-a-peculiar-degree-marks-an/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [A protective tariff is a typical conspiracy in restraint of trade.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspiracy-in-restraint-of-trade/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [It is much more difficult to recede from a scale of expenditure once adopted than it is to extend the accustomed scale in response…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/it-is-much-more-difficult-to-recede-from-a-scale-of-expenditure-once/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [A standard of living is of the nature of habit. ...it acts almost solely to prevent recession from a scale of conspicuous expenditure that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/a-standard-of-living-is-of-the-nature-of-habit-it-acts-almost-solely/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [With the exception of the instinct of self-preservation, the propensity for emulation is probably the strongest and most alert and persistent of the economic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/with-the-exception-of-the-instinct-of-self-preservation-the/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [It frequently happens that an element of the standard of living which set out with being primarily wasteful, ends with becoming, in the apprehension…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/it-frequently-happens-that-an-element-of-the-standard-of-living-which/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [All business sagacity reduces itself in the last analysis to judicious use of sabotage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/all-business-sagacity-reduces-itself-in-the-last-analysis-to/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [“She lives with man on terms of equality, knows nothing of that relation of status which is the ancient basis of all distinctions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/she-lives-with-man-on-terms-of-equality-knows-nothing-of-that/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The thief or swindler who has gained great wealth by his delinquency has a better chance than the small thief of escaping the rigorous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-thief-or-swindler-who-has-gained-great-wealth-by-his-delinquency/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The dog commends himself to our favor by affording play to our propensity for mastery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-dog-commends-himself-to-our-favor-by-affording-play-to-our/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [“The ceremonial differentiation of the dietary is best seen in the use of intoxicating beverages and narcotics. If these articles of consumption are costly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-ceremonial-differentiation-of-the-dietary-is-best-seen-in-the-use/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The machine technology takes no cognizance of conventionally established rules of precedence; it knows neither manners nor breeding and can make no use of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-machine-technology-takes-no-cognizance-of-conventionally/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [Loud dress becomes offensive to people of taste, as evincing an undue desire to reach and impress the untrained sensibilities of the vulgar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/loud-dress-becomes-offensive-to-people-of-taste-as-evincing-an-undue/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) [Explore all 63 Thorstein Veblen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) ## More Class quotes > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [If I had to guess and put a name on it, I'd say that at some point, the drug war was as much a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-simon/if-i-had-to-guess-and-put-a-name-on-it-i-d-say-that-at-some-point-the/) [David Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-simon/) > [I grew up in the middle class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-scaramucci/i-grew-up-in-the-middle-class/) [Anthony Scaramucci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-scaramucci/) > [It must be assumed and established as a principle, that the right of private property must be regarded as sacred. Wherefore, the law ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-xiii/it-must-be-assumed-and-established-as-a-principle-that-the-right-of/) [Pope Leo XIII](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-xiii/) > [The rich people are apparently leaving America. They're giving up their citizenship. These great lovers of America who made their money in this country-when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-sanders/the-rich-people-are-apparently-leaving-america-they-re-giving-up/) [Bernie Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-sanders/) > [I certainly don't think that the heirs of the American Revolution were a particularly noble class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/i-certainly-don-t-think-that-the-heirs-of-the-american-revolution/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [You’re crazy,” said her best friend, Angela, as the bell rang to signal five minutes before the first class on the first day back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-rees-brennan/you-re-crazy-said-her-best-friend-angela-as-the-bell-rang-to-signal/) [Sarah Rees Brennan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-rees-brennan/) > [“Poor people do not go on holiday; they go home.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/poor-people-do-not-go-on-holiday-they-go-home/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [Because there are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself; another which appreciates what others comprehend; and a third which neither comprehends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccolo-machiavelli/because-there-are-three-classes-of-intellects-one-which-comprehends/) [Niccolo Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccolo-machiavelli/) > [Right now, for many Americans, class is being foregrounded like never before because of the economic situation. It doesn't mean that race doesn't matter,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/right-now-for-many-americans-class-is-being-foregrounded-like-never/) [Bell Hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [But I don't think the Democratic Party is at eye level with the middle class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-i-don-t-think-the-democratic-party-is-at-eye-level-with-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm not a dancer. Never took a dance class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chrishell-stause/i-m-not-a-dancer-never-took-a-dance-class/) [Chrishell Stause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chrishell-stause/) > [Most startups are not just built for the person who is using them. When you do that, every now and then you get really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmett-shear/most-startups-are-not-just-built-for-the-person-who-is-using-them/) [Emmett Shear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmett-shear/) > [The structure of the Swiss ruling class is rock-hard, and unchanged since the time of Napoleon. They sit on their mountains and lecture the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-ziegler/the-structure-of-the-swiss-ruling-class-is-rock-hard-and-unchanged/) [Jean Ziegler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-ziegler/) > [We are not going back to the failed policies of the past. We are fighting for the middle class!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-pelosi/we-are-not-going-back-to-the-failed-policies-of-the-past-we-are/) [Nancy Pelosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-pelosi/) [Browse all 7,637 Class quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The domestic life of most classes is relatively shabby, as compared with the éclat of that overt portion of their life that is carried on before the eyes of observers.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thorstein Veblen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-domestic-life-of-most-classes-is-relatively-shabby-as-compared/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Class" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-domestic-life-of-most-classes-is-relatively-shabby-as-compared/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/thorstein-veblen-10833_class_the-domestic-life-of-most-classes-is-rel_2321587.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/thorstein-veblen-10833_class_the-domestic-life-of-most-classes-is-rel_2321587.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/thorstein-veblen-10833_class_the-domestic-life-of-most-classes-is-rel_2321587.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The domestic life of most classes is relatively shabby, as compared with the éclat of that overt portion of…” — Thorstein Veblen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Thorstein Veblen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The domestic life of most classes...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-domestic-life-of-most-classes-is-relatively-shabby-as-compared/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-domestic-life-of-most-classes-is-relatively-shabby-as-compared/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```