Cleanliness is next to godliness

Cultural  

1. Cleanliness is a great virtue.

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cleanliness is next to godliness Idioms  

1. Being clean is a sign of spiritual purity or goodness, as in Don't forget to wash your ears—cleanliness is next to godliness. This phrase was first recorded in a sermon by John Wesley in 1778, but the idea is ancient, found in Babylonian and Hebrew religious tracts. It is still invoked, often as an admonition to wash or clean up.

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Example Sentences

If cleanliness is next to godliness, it would seem to have last place in the domain of patriotism.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 6, 2017

My rural homesteading family has printed up t-shirts with big, bold letters stating "Dirt Pride," to push back against many of our obsessively clean friends and relatives who believe cleanliness is next to godliness.

From New York Times • Aug. 3, 2016

If cleanliness is next to godliness, then the New York City subway has long been in need of a few prayers.

From New York Times • Oct. 25, 2011

Domestic Scientist Alice Foote MacDougall says: "Remember that cleanliness is next to godliness and invest everything that you use in connection with coffee with a god-like cleanliness."

From Time Magazine Archive

If cleanliness is next to godliness, then whenever we had company my mother became a goddess.

From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat