If a person is too poor to keep a servant, though ever so elegant, he must sweep his own rooms
 William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1847). copy citation

add
Author William Makepeace Thackeray
Source Vanity Fair
Topic servant
Date 1847
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink https://www.gutenberg.org/files/599/599-h/599-h.htm

Context

“It was an advance, and as such, perhaps, some ladies of indisputable correctness and gentility will condemn the action as immodest; but, you see, poor dear Rebecca had all this work to do for herself. If a person is too poor to keep a servant, though ever so elegant, he must sweep his own rooms: if a dear girl has no dear Mamma to settle matters with the young man, she must do it for herself. And oh, what a mercy it is that these women do not exercise their powers oftener! We can't resist them, if they do.” source