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Matrimony: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

He that hath a wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.— BACON — Essays. Of Marriage and

Single Life. Now voe me I can zing on my business abrode: Though the storm do beat down on my poll, There's a wife brighten'd vire at the end of my road, An' her love, voe the jay o' my soul.— WILLIAM BARNES — Don't Ceare. St. 5.

My fond affection thou hast seen, Then judge of my regret To think more happy thou hadst been If we had never met! And has that thought been shared by thee? Ah, no! that smiling cheek Proves more unchanging love for me Than labor'd words could speak.— THOS. HAYNES BAYLY — TO My Wife,

No jealousy their dawn of love o'ercast, Nor blasted were their wedded days with strife; Each season looked delightful as it past, To the fond husband and the faithful wife.— JAMES BEATTIE — The Minstrel. Bk. I. St. 14.

He that said it was not good for man to be alone, placed the celibate amongst the inferior states of perfection.— BOYLE — Works. Vol. VI. P. 292.

Letter from Mr. Evelyn. Cursed be the man, the poorest wretch in life, The crouching vassal to the tyrant wife, Who has no will but by her high permission; Who has not sixpence but in her possession; Who must to her his dear friend's secret tell; Who dreads a curtain lecture worse than hell. Were such the wife had fallen to my part, I'd break her spirit or I'd break her heart.— BURNS — The Henpecked Husband.

Women wear the breeches.— BURTON — Anatomy of Melancholy.

Democritus to the Reader. 'Cause grace and virtue are within Prohibited degrees of kin; And therefore no true Saint allows, They shall be suffer'd to espouse.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. 3. Canto I. L. 1,293.

For talk six times with the same single lady, And you may get the wedding dresses ready.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto XII. St. 59.

There was no great disparity of years, Though much in temper; but they never clash'd, They moved like stars united in their spheres, Or like the Rhône by Leman's waters wash'd, Where mingled and yet separate appears The river from the lake, all bluely dash'd Through the serene and placid glassy deep, Which fain would lull its river-child to sleep.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto XIV. St. 87.

To sit, happy married lovers; Phillis trifling with a plover's Egg, while Corydon uncovers with a grace the Sally Lunn, Or dissects the lucky pheasant-that, I think, were passing pleasant As I sit alone at present, dreaming darkly of a dun.— CALVERLEY — In the Gloaming. (Parody

on Mrs. Browning.) Man and wife, Coupled together for the sake of strife.— CHURCHILL — The Rosciad. L. 1,005.

Oh! how many torments lie in the small circle of a wedding ring.— COLLEY CIBBER

Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure, Marry'd in haste, we may repent at leisure.— CONGREVE — The Old Bachelor. Act V. Sc. 1.

Misses! the tale that I relate This lesson seems to carry- Choose not alone a proper mate, But proper time to marry. C.— COWPER — Pairing Time Anticipated.

(Moral.) Wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared been To public feasts, where meet a public rout, Where they that are without would fain go in, And they that are within would fain go out.— SIR JOHN DAVIES — Contention Betwixt

a Wife, etc. At length cried she, I'll marry : What should I tarry for? I may lead apes in hell forever.— DIBDIN — Tack and Tack.

Is not marriage an open question, when it is alleged, from the beginning of the world, that such as are in the institution wish to get out, and such as are out wish to get in.— EMERSON — Representative Men.

Montaigne. A bachelor May thrive by observation on a little, A single life's no burthen: but to draw In yokes is chargeable, and will require A double maintenance.— JOHN FORD — The Fancies Chaste and Noble. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 82.

The joys of marriage are the heaven on earth, Life's paradise, great princess, the soul's quiet, Sinews of concord, earthly immortality, Eternity of pleasures.— JOHN FORD — The Broken Heart. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 102.

They that marry ancient people, merely in expectation to bury them, hang themselves, in hope that one will come and cut the halter.— FULLER — Holy and Profane States. Bk. III. Of Marriage.

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.— GAY — Cupid, Hymen, and Plutus.

So, with decorum all things carry'd; Miss frown'd, and blush'd, and then wasmarried.— GOLDSMITH — The Double Transformation. St. 3.

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.— NATH. HAWTHORNE — Mosses from an

Old Manse. Mrs. Bullfrog. Andromache! my soul's far better part.— HOMER — Iliad. Bk. VI. L. 624.

Pope's trans. Yet while my Hector still survives, I see My father, mother, brethren, all in thee.— HOMER — Iliad. Bk. VI. L. 544.

Pope's trans. 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.— KEATS — Letters to Fanny Brawne.

Letter II. Ay, marriage is the life-long miracle, The self-begetting wonder, daily fresh.— CHARLES KINGSLEY — Saint's Tragedy. Act II. Sc. 9.

Asunto the bow the cord is, So unto the man is woman; Though she bends him she obeys him Though she draws him, yet she follows, Useless each without the other!— LONGFELLOW — Hiawatha. Pt. X. L.1.

Sure the shovel and tongs To each other belongs. γ.— SAMUEL LOVER — Widow Machree.

Cling closer, closer, life to life, Cling closer, heart to heart; The time will come, my own wed Wife, When you and I must part! Let nothing break our band but Death, For in the world above 'Tis the breaker Death that soldereth Our ring of Wedded Love. S.— GERALD MASSEY — On a Wedding Day. St. 11.

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.— MASSINGER — Picture. Act V. Sc. 3.

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.— MASSINGER — New Way to Pay Old Debts. Act IV. Sc. 1.

For what thou art is mine: Our state cannot be sever'd; we are one, One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. IX. L. 957.

Hail, wedded love, mysterious law; true source Of human offspring.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. IV. L. 750.

Therefore God's universal law Gave to the man despotic power Over his female in due awe, Not from that right to part an hour, Smile she or lour.— MILTON — Samson Agonistes. L. 1,053.

To the nuptial bower I led her, blushing like the morn; all Heaven, And happy constellations on that hour Shed their selectest influence; the earth Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill; Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs Whisper'd it to the woods, and from their wings Flung rose, flung odours from the spicy shrub.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. VIII. L. 510.

It happens, as with cages, the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out.— MONTAIGNE — Upon some Verses of Virgil. Bk. III. Ch. V.

There's a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told, When two, that are link'd in one heavenly tie, With heart never changing, and brow never cold, Love on thro' all ills, and love on till they die.— MOORE — Lalla Rookh. Light of the Harem. St. 42.

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.— D. M. MULOCK — Magnus and Morna. Sc. 3.

Grave authors say, and witty poets sing, That honest wedlock is a glorious thing.— POPE — January and May. L. 21.

The garlands fade, the vows are worn away; So dies her love, and so my hopes decay.— POPE — Autumn. L. 70.

There swims no goose so gray, but soon or late She finds some honest gander for her mate.— POPE — Wife of Bath. Her Prologue. From Chaucer. L. 98.

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.— ADELAIDE ANN PROCTER — A Woman's

Question. Widowed wife and wedded maid.— SCOTT — The Betrothed. Ch. XV.

Marriage is a desperate thing.— JOHN SELDEN — Table Talk. Marriage.

As are those dulcet sounds in break of day That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear And summon him to marriage.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 51.

A world-without-end bargain.— Shakespeare — Love's Labour's Lost. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 799.

But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd, Than that which with'ring on the virgin thorn Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 76. Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, She married.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 154.

God, the best maker of all marriages, Combine your hearts in one.— Shakespeare — Henry V. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 387.

Happiest of all, is, that her gentle spirit Commits itself to yours to be directed, As from her lord, her governor, her king.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 162.

He is the half part of a blessed man, Left to be finished by such as she; And she a fair divided excellence, Whose fulness of perfection lies in him.— Shakespeare — King John. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 437.

If she deny to wed, I'll crave the day When I shall ask the banns and when be married.— Shakespeare — Taming of the Shrew. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 180.

If you shall marry, You give away this hand, and that is mine; You give away heaven's vows, and those are mine; You give away myself, which is known mine.— Shakespeare — All's Well That Ends Well. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 169.

I will fasten on this sleeve of thine: Thou art an elm, my husband, I, a vine.— Shakespeare — Comedy of Errors. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 175.

I will marry her, sir, at your request; but if there be no great love in the beginning, yet heaven may decrease it upon better acquaintance *** I hope, upon familiarity will grow more contempt: I will marry her; that I am freely dissolved, and dissolutely.— Shakespeare — Merry Wives of Windsor. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 253.

I would not marry her, though she were endowed with all that Adam had left him before he transgressed: she would have made Hercules have turned spit, yea, and have cleft his club to make the fire too. *** I would to God some scholar would conjure her; for certainly, while she is here, a man may live as quiet in hell as in a sanctuary. C.— Shakespeare — Much Ado About Nothing. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 258.

Let husbands know, Their wives have sense like them: they see, and smell, And have their palates both for sweet and sour, As husbands have.— Shakespeare — Othello. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 94.

Let still the woman take An elder than herself: so wears she to him So sways she level in her husband's heart: For, boy, however we do praise ourselves, Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm, More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn Than women's are.— Shakespeare — Twelfth Night. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 29.

Men are April when they woo, December when they wed; maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives.— Shakespeare — As You Like It. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 147.

Men's vows are women's traitors! All good seeming, By thy revolt, O husband, shall be thought Put on for villany; not born where 't grows, But worn a bait for ladies.— Shakespeare — Cymbeline. Act III. Sc. 4. L. 55.

No, the world must be peopled. When I said, I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married.— Shakespeare — Much Ado About Nothing. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 253.

Now go with me and with this holy man Into the chantry by: there, before him, And underneath that consecrated roof, Plight me the full assurance of your faith.— Shakespeare — Twelfth Night. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 23.

O ye gods, Render me worthy of this noble wife! Julius Cæsar. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 303. She is mine own, And I as rich in having such a jewel As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar and the rocks pure gold.— Shakespeare — Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 168.

She is your treasure, she must have a husband; I must dance barefoot on her wedding day And for your love to her lead apes in hell.— Shakespeare — Taming of the Shrew. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 32.

She shall watch all night: And if she chance to nod I'll rail and brawl And with the clamour keep her still awake. This is the way to kill a wife with kindness.— Shakespeare — Taming of the Shrew. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 218.

She is not well married that lives married long; But she's best married that dies married young.— Shakespeare — Romeo and Juliet. Act IV. Sc. 5. L. 77.

The instances that second marriage move Are base respects of thrift, but none of love.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 192.

۱ Thy husband *** commits his body To painful labour, both by sea and land, * * * * * * And craves no other tribute at thy hands, But love, fair looks, and true obedience; Too little payment for so great a debt.— Shakespeare — Taming of the Shrew. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 152.

Thou art mine, thou hast given thy word, Close, close in my arms thou art clinging; Alone for my ear thou art singing A song which no stranger hath heard: But afar from me yet, like a bird, Thy soul in some region unstirr'd On its mystical circuit is winging.— E. C. STEDMAN — Stanzas for Music.

The reason why so few marriages are happy is because young ladies spend their time in making nets, not in making cages.— SWIFT — Thoughts on Various Subjects.

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.— S. SWIFT — Marriage Service from his

Chamber Window. As the husband is the wife is; thou art mated with a clown, And the grossness of his nature will have weight to drag thee down.— TENNYSON — Locksley Hall. St. 24.

Marriages are made in Heaven.— TENNYSON — Aylmer's Field. L. 188.

But happy they, the happiest of their kind! Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate Their Hearts, their Fortunes, and their Beings blend.— THOMSON — Seasons. Spring. L. 1,111.

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

C. the Dwarfs. L. 7. 'Tis just like a summer bird cage in a garden; the birds that are without despair to get in, and the birds that are within despair, and are in a consumption, for fear they shall never get out.— JOHN WEBSTER — The White Devil. Act I. Sc. 2.

Why do not words, and kiss, and solemn pledge, And nature that is kind in woman's breast, And reason that in man is wise and good, And fear of Him who is a righteous Judge,- Why do not these prevail for human life, To keep two hearts together, that began Their spring-time with one love.— ORDSWORTH — The Excursion. Bk. VI.

Body and soul, like peevish man and wife, United jar, and yet are loth to part.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night II. L. 175.

Prima societas in ipso conjugio est: proxima in liberis; deinde una domus, communia omnia. The first bond of society is marriage; the next, our children; then the whole family and all things in common. C.— CICERO — De Officiis. I. 17.

Felices ter et amplius Quos irrupta tenet copula, nec malis Divulsus querimoniis Supremâ citius solvet amor die. Happy and thrice happy are they who enjoy an uninterrupted union, and whose love, unbroken by any complaints, shall not dissolve until the last day.— HORACE — Carmina. I. 13. 17.

Hac quoque de causâ, si te proverbia tangunt, Mense malos Maio nubere vulgus ait. For this reason, if you believe proverbs, let me tell you the common one: "It is unlucky to marry in May."— OVID — Fasti. V. 489.

Si qua voles apte nubere, nube pari. If thou wouldst marry wisely, marry thine equal.— OVID — Heroides. IX. 32.

Le mariage est comme une forteresse assiégée; ceux qui sont dehors veulent y entrer et ceux qui sont dedans en sortir. Marriage is like a beleaguered fortress; those who are without want to get in, and those within want to get out.— QUITARD — Études sur les Proverbes

Français. P. 102. Par un prompt désespoir souvent on se marie. Qu'on s'en repent après tout le temps de sa vie. Men often marry in hasty recklessness and repent afterward all their lives.— MOLIÈRE — Les Femmes Savantes.

V. 5. Denn ein wackerer Mann verdient ein begütertes Mädchen. For a brave man deserves a well-endowed girl.— GOETHE — Hermann und Dorothea.