" What Morland wanted was a wife exactly like his mother; a wife who would say ‘Yes, dear.’ Julia had often smiled to herself when she heard Mrs. Beverley say ‘Yes, dear’ and had despised her just a little for having no mind of her own . . . but perhaps poor Mrs. Beverley had become a ‘Yes, dear’ sort of wife because it was the only way to live comfortably with a ‘Do this’ sort of husband! "

― D.E. Stevenson , The Blue Sapphire