To marry a man out of pity is folly; and, if you think you are going to influence the kind of fellow who has never had a chance, poor devil, you are profoundly mistaken. One can only influence the strong characters in life, not the weak; and it is the height of vanity to suppose that you can make an honest man of anyone.
Topics ยป Marriage
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The aura of the theocratic death penalty for adultery still clings to America, even outside New England, and multiple divorce, which looks to the European like serial polygamy, is the moral solution to the problem of the itch. Love comes into it too, of course, but in Europe we tend to see marital love as an eternity which encompasses hate and also indifference: when we promise to love we really mean that we promise to honor a contract. Americans, seeming to take marriage with not enough seriousness, are really taking love and sex with too much.
So that ends my first experience of matrimony, which I always thought a highly over-rated performance.
You, that are going to be married, think things can never be done too fast: but we that are old, and know what we are about, must elope methodically, madam.
There is no more lovely, friendly, and charming relationship, communion, or company than a good marriage.
There is only one thing for a man to do who is married to a woman who enjoys spending money, and that is enjoy earning it.