It is not always easy to be quite independent and self-respecting when one is poor and lives among rich people
 Edith Wharton, House of Mirth (1905). copy citation

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Author Edith Wharton
Source House of Mirth
Topic living self-knowledge
Date 1905
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/284/284-h/284-h.htm

Context

“she had to stop and consider that, in the stress of her other anxieties, as a breathless fugitive may have to pause at the cross-roads and try to decide coolly which turn to take. "You are quite right, Mr. Rosedale. I HAVE had bothers; and I am grateful to you for wanting to relieve me of them. It is not always easy to be quite independent and self-respecting when one is poor and lives among rich people; I have been careless about money, and have worried about my bills. But I should be selfish and ungrateful if I made that a reason for accepting all you offer, with no better return to make than the desire to be free from my anxieties.” source