Quote#Money & Wealth
Can you support the expense of a husband, hussy, in gaming, drinking…
Quote byJohn Gay · 1685–1732
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Beggar's Opera (1728), Mrs. Peachum, Act I, sc. viii.
English (original)
Can you support the expense of a husband, hussy, in gaming, drinking and whoring? Have you money enough to carry on the daily quarrels of man and wife about who shall squander most? There are not many husbands and wives, who can bear the charges of plaguing one another in a handsome way.
— John Gay
More from John Gay
All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd.
Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it.
'Twas when the seas were roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclined.
So comes a reckoning when the banquet's o'er,— The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more.
My lodging is on the cold ground, And hard, very hard, is my fare, But that which grieves me more Is the coldness of my dear.
Adieu, she cried, and waved her lily hand.