Meaning:

Your home will always be the place for which you feel the deepest affection, no matter where you are.

Background:

This is expression is generally attributed to the Roman naval commander, Gaius Plinius Secundus, known to historians as Pliny the Elder (a.d. 23-79). However, we have been unable to find any verification that he actually said it.

The first known use in the USA is in an 1870 volume of plays,Davey Crockett and Other Plays by J.J. McCloskey in which the author wrote 'Well, home, they say, is where the heart is.'

We were unable to find biographical information on McCloskey, other than a rather charming post 2008 post on Amazon for Autobiography of an Old Player which reads:

"I was surprised to see this listing on Amazon. This book was never in print. This is my great-great grandfather's memoirs. J.J. McCloskey was an actor, playwright and very interesting person. He wrote this 200 page memoir in the early 1900s. As far as I know there is an original copy that with my father's cousin and the carbon copy (my father's copy). My father sent a copy to the New York Public Library and to the University of Pennsylvania. It was great fun to read as I began my genealogical research (in 2003) of my very interesting New York family."

Alphabetical list of expressions

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