
When the husband died the law gave the widow the use of one-third of the real estate belonging to him, and it was called the "widow's encumbrance."
The Progress of Fifty Years (1893)
Christie denied having made this remark, which had been attributed to her by her second husband Sir Max Mallowan in a news report (9 March 1954); according to Nigel Dennis, "Genteel Queen of Crime: Agatha Christie Puts Her Zest for Life Into Murder", Life, Volume 40, N° 20, 14 May 1956 http://books.google.com/books?id=p0wEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA102, she was quoting "a witty wife"; Quote Investigator reports on "An Archaeologist Is the Best Husband a Woman Can Have" as of uncertain origin. http://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/07/12/husband/
Disputed
Variant: An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets the more interested he is in her.
When the husband died the law gave the widow the use of one-third of the real estate belonging to him, and it was called the "widow's encumbrance."
The Progress of Fifty Years (1893)
Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1999. Canto 3, Chapter 31, verse 41, purport. Vedabase http://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/3/31/41
Quotes from Books: Loving God, Quotes from Books: Regression of Women's Rights
Cassandra (1860)
"Sweet Little Rock and Roller" (1958)
Song lyrics
“When a woman reaches forty, she must wait twenty years for her husband to catch up.”
The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Marriage