#matrimony

[I]t is not by being richer or more powerful that a man becomes better; one is a matter of fortune, the other of virtue. Nor should she deem herself other than venal who weds a rich man rather than a poor, and desires more things in her husband than himself. Assuredly, whomsoever this concupiscence leads into marriage deserves payment rather than affection. ↗

— Héloïse d'Argenteuil

#concupiscence #dignity #fortune #greed #honesty

Philip wasn't the sort of man to make a friend of a woman. He wanted devotion. I gave him that. I did, you know. But I couldn't stand being made a fool of. I couldn;t stand being put on probation, like an office-boy, to see if I was good enough to be condescended to. I quite thought he was honest when he said he didn't believe in marriage -- and then it turned out that it was a test, to see whether my devotion was abject enough. Well, it wasn't. I didn't like having matrimony offered as a bad-conduct prize. ↗

— Dorothy L. Sayers

#hypocrisy #matrimony #marriage

A young man married is a man that's marred. ↗

— William Shakespeare

#matrimony #marriage

What tale do you like best to hear?' 'Oh, I have not much choice! They generally run on the same theme - courtship; and promise to end in the same catastrophe - marriage. ↗

— Charlotte Brontë

#courtship #discord #disharmony #empowerment #gender

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

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

— Jane Austen

#duty #feelings #integrity #joy #love

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

I shall expect my husband to have no pleasures but what he shares with me; and if his greatest pleasure of all is not the enjoyment of my company - why - it will be the worse for him - that's all.' 'If such are your expectations of matrimony, Esther, you must, indeed, be careful whom you marry - or rather, you must avoid it altogether. ↗

— Anne Brontë

#expectations #husband #love #matrimony #wife