Samuel Smiles：Thrift, Excerpt 500

Is it not a fact, that in what is called "fashionable society," a fine outside appearance is regarded almost in the light of a virtue?--that to be rich, or to have the appearance of riches, is esteemed as a merit of a high order;--whereas, to be poor, or to seem so, ranks as something like an unpardonable offence? Nay, such is the heartlessness of this class spirit, that a young woman, belonging to the better class, who, by misfortune or family reverses, has been thrown upon her own resources, and who endeavours, by her own honest hands, to earn her honest bread, immediately loses caste, and is virtually expelled from "respectable" society. The resolution to be independent--the most invigorating resolution which can take possession of the human mind--is scouted in such circles as a degrading thing; and those who have been brought up within the influence of fashion, will submit to the most severe privations, rather than submit to the loss of their class and caste respectability!

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14418
Locator：Excerpt 500 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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