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Marriage must be a relation either of sympathy or of conquest.

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Little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage between love and duty.

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A pretty building I'm making, without either bricks or timber. I'm up i' the garret a'ready, and haven't so much as dug the foundation.

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A woman may get to love by degrees—the best fire does not flare up the soonest.

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What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that they are joined for life--to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each ot...more

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It's easy finding reasons why other folks should be patient.

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A woman dictates before marriage in order that she may have an appetite for submission afterwards.

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The fact is unalterable, that a fellow-mortal with whose nature you are acquainted solely through the brief entrances and exits of a few imaginative w...more

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Whatever else remained the same, the light had changed, and you cannot find the pearly dawn at noonday. The fact is unalterable, that a fellow-mortal ...more

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Dorothea, with all her eagerness to know the truths of life, retained very childlike ideas about marriage. She felt sure that she would have accepted ...more

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I suppose it was that in courtship everything is regarded as provisional and preliminary, and the smallest sample of virtue or accomplishment is taken...more

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But a good wife—a good unworldly woman—may really help a man, and keep him more independent.

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I would rather not be engaged. When people are engaged, they begin to think of being married soon, and I should like everything to go on for a long wh...more