“ Being a gentleman is a luxury which I cannot afford, therefore I do not want it. ”
Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh (1903). copy citation
| Author | Samuel Butler |
|---|---|
| Source | The Way of All Flesh |
| Topic | luxury gentleman |
| Date | 1903 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2084/2084-h/2084-h.htm |
Context
“they live and live and live and are happy for many a long year after they would have entered into the kingdom of Heaven if they had been poor. I want to live long and to raise my children, if I see they would be happier for the raising; that is what I want, and it is not what I am doing now that will help me. Being a gentleman is a luxury which I cannot afford, therefore I do not want it. Let me go back to my shop again, and do things for people which they want done and will pay me for doing for them. They know what they want and what is good for them better than I can tell them.”
It was hard to deny the soundness of this, and if he had been dependent only on the £300 a year which he was getting from me I should have advised him to open his shop again next morning.”
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