After much research here it is – it appears this quote may have come from Rabbi Ben Yair (Hebrew Proverb) (2nd Century) and appears this way in text -
The doctrines of religion are resolved into carefulness; carefulness into vigorousness; vigorousness into absemiousness into cleaniness ; cleaniness into godliness. (spellcheck went crazy over these words….)
So not from the Bible or your Mother, but I’m going to say it should be right up as if it came from either. I’m not saying that if your home is perfectly clean you will never seen bugs. Ants can trail in looking for food and move right on along unless they encounter something. Moisture is probably another much bigger factor, cockroaches can go months without food but seldom a week without water. A speck of food could be a whole meal for a roach. I think the bigger issue – harborage areas for them to hide in. The more cracks and crevices = more availability to hide and stay hidden.
The BIG picture the cleaner the home or restaurant the less chances of hidden pests.
Photo by PPMA
“The doctrines of religion are resolved into carefulness; carefulness into vigorousness; vigorousness into abstemiousness into cleanliness; cleanliness into godliness.” As you can see, in the quote, ‘cleanliness’ is literally next to ‘godliness.‘ – See more at: http://donnaperuginichildrensauthor.com/2011/03/03/where-did-the-saying-cleanliness-is-next-to-godliness-come-from/#sthash.TK7ImvmE.dpuf