"The husband's sullen, dogged, shy, The wife grows flippant in reply; He loves command and due restriction, And she as well likes contradiction. She never slavishly submits; She'll have her way, or have her fits. He his way tugs, she t'other draws; The man grows jealous and with cause."

"It is not good that the man should be alone."

"Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh."

"Denn ein wackerer Mann verdient ein begütertes Mädchen."

"So, with decorum all things carry'd; Miss frown'd, and blush'd, and then was—married."

"Le divorce est le sacrement de l'adultere."

"An unhappy gentleman, resolving to wed nothing short of perfection, keeps his heart and hand till both get so old and withered that no tolerable woman will accept them."

"I should like to see any kind of a man, distinguishable from a gorilla, that some good and even pretty woman could not shape a husband out of."

"Yet while my Hector still survives, I see My father, mother, brethren, all in thee."

"Andromache! my soul's far better part."

"Felices ter et amplius Quos irrupta tenet copula, nec malis Divulsus querimoniis Suprema citius solvet amor die."

"I have met with women whom I really think would like to be married to a Poem, and to be given away by a Novel."

"Ay, marriage is the life-long miracle, The self-begetting wonder, daily fresh."

"You should indeed have longer tarried By the roadside before you married."

"Sure the shovel and tongs To each other belongs."

"Take heede, Camilla, that seeking al the Woode for a streight sticke, you chuse not at the last a crooked staffe."

"Marriage is destinie, made in heaven."

"And, to all married men, be this a caution, Which they should duly tender as their life, Neither to doat too much, nor doubt a wife."

"The sum of all that makes a just man happy Consists in the well choosing of his wife: And there, well to discharge it, does require Equality of years, of birth, of fortune; For beauty being poor, and not cried up By birth or wealth, can truly mix with neither. And wealth, when there's such difference in years, And fair descent, must make the yoke uneasy."

"What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder."

"Par un prompt désespoir souvent on se marie. Qu'on s'en repent après tout le temps de sa vie."

"Women when they marry buy a cat in the bag."

"Il en advient ce qui se veoid aux cages; les oyseaux qui en sont dehors, desesperent d'y entrer; et d'un pareil soing en sortir, ceulx qui sont au dedans."

"Drink, my jolly lads, drink with discerning, Wedlock's a lane where there is no turning; Never was owl more blind than a lover, Drink and be merry, lads, half seas over."

"Hac quoque de causa, si te proverbia tangunt, Mense malos Maio nubere vulgus ait."

"Si qua voles apte nubere, nube pari."

"Some dish more sharply spiced than this Milk-soup men call domestic bliss."

"The garlands fade, the vows are worn away; So dies her love, and so my hopes decay."

"Grave authors say, and witty poets sing, That honest wedlock is a glorious thing."

"There swims no goose so gray, but soon or late She finds some honest gander for her mate."

"Before I trust my Fate to thee, Or place my hand in thine, Before I let thy Future give Color and form to mine, Before I peril all for thee, Question thy soul to-night for me."

"A prudent wife is from the Lord."

"Advice to persons about to marry—Don't."

"Le mariage est comme une forteresse assiégée; ceux qui sont dehors veulent y entrer et ceux qui sont dedans en sortir."

"Widowed wife and wedded maid."

"Marriage is a desperate thing."

"To disbelieve in marriage is easy: to love a married woman is easy; but to betray a comrade, to be disloyal to a host, to break the covenant of bread and salt, is impossible."

"What God hath joined together no man shall ever put asunder: God will take care of that."

"The whole world is strewn with snares, traps, gins and pitfalls for the capture of men by women."

"Lastly no woman should marry a teetotaller, or a man who does not smoke. It is not for nothing that this "ignoble tobagie" as Michelet calls it, spreads all over the world."

"Under this window in stormy weather I marry this man and woman together; Let none but Him who rules the thunder Put this man and woman asunder."

"The reason why so few marriages are happy is because young ladies spend their time in making nets, not in making cages."

"Celibate, like the fly in the heart of an apple, dwells in a perpetual sweetness, but sits alone, and is confined and dies in singularity."

"Marriages are made in Heaven."

"Remember, it is as easy to marry a rich woman as a poor woman."

"This I set down as a positive truth. A woman with fair opportunities and without a positive hump, may marry whom she likes."

"What woman, however old, has not the bridal-favours and raiment stowed away, and packed in lavender, in the inmost cupboards of her heart?"

"Thrice happy is that humble pair, Beneath the level of all care! Over whose heads those arrows fly Of sad distrust and jealousy."

"The happy married man dies in good stile at home, surrounded by his weeping wife and children. The old bachelor don't die at all—he sort of rots away, like a pollywog's tail."