‘Mr Collins, you must marry.- Chuse properly, chuse a gentlewoman for my sake; and for your own, let her be an active , useful sort of person...able to make a small income go a good way.’
(Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice)
I ... chose my wife, as she did her wedding gown, not for a fine glossy surface, but for such qualities as would wear well.
(Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield)