#matrimony

The rule seemed to be that a great woman must either die unwed ... or find a still greater man to marry her. ... The great man, on the other hand, could marry where he liked, not being restricted to great women; indeed, it was often found sweet and commendable in him to choose a woman of no sort of greatness at all. ↗

— Dorothy L. Sayers

#choice #clichés #double-standards #empowerment #feminism

If I follow the inclination of my nature, it is this: beggar-woman and single, far rather than queen and married. ↗

— Elizabeth I Tudor

#british-monarchy #british-royal-family #dignity #empowerment #freedom

[Marriage] happens as with cages: the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out. ↗

— Michel de Montaigne

#captivity #freedom #marriage #married-life #matrimony

LEONATO Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband. BEATRICE Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a pierce of valiant dust? to make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I'll none: Adam's sons are my brethren; and, truly, I hold it a sin to match in my kindred. ↗

— William Shakespeare

#empowerment #equality #freedom #happiness #husbands

The critical period of matrimony is breakfast-time. ↗

— A. P. Herbert

#critical #matrimony #period

Oh, Lizzy! do anything rather than marry without affection. ↗

— Jane Austen

#duty #feelings #integrity #joy #love

[O]ur honeymoon will shine our life long: its beams will only fade over your grave or mine. ↗

— Charlotte Brontë

#death #edward-fairfax-rochester #honeymoon #jane-eyre #life

My husband would do anything for me ...' It's degrading. No human being ought to have such power over another." "It's a very real power, Harriet." "Then ... we won't use it. If we disagree, we'll fight it out like gentlemen. We won't stand for matrimonial blackmail. ↗

— Dorothy L. Sayers

#devotion #dignity #disagreements #domestic-life #equality

A marriage of two independent and equally irritable intelligences seems to me reckless to the point of insanity. ↗

— Dorothy L. Sayers

#intelligence #irritability #marriage #matrimony #recklessness

People go on marrying because they can't resist natural forces, although many of them may know perfectly well that they are possibly buying a month's pleasure with a life's discomfort. ↗

— Thomas Hardy

#force-of-nature #marriage #matrimony #nature #pleasure