Love, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906
When a Man should marry? A young Man not yet, an Elder Man not at all.
—Francis Bacon, 1625
It is most unwise for people in love to marry.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1903
One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry.
—Oscar Wilde, 1907
I wish someone would have told me that, just because I’m a girl, I don’t have to get
married.
—Marlo Thomas
4
Many a man who falls in love with a dimple make the mistake of marrying the whole girl.
—Evan Esar, 1943
You have married a beauty? So much worse for you.
—Italian proverb
When a girl marries, she exchanges the attentions of all the other men of her acquaintance
for the inattention of just one.
—Helen Rowland, 1903
5
Marriage is a bribe to make a housekeeper think she’s a householder.
—Thornton Wilder, 1954
Marriage is a great institution. […] But I ain’t ready for an institution yet.
—Mae West, 1933
Marriage is a desperate thing.
—John Selden, 1689
Marriage, a market which has nothing free but the entrance.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580
Marriage isn’t a word, it’s a sentence.
—King Vidor, 1928
Wedlock is padlock.
—English proverb
The trouble with wedlock is that there’s not enough wed and too much lock.
—Christopher Morley, 1939
4
As quoted, without a date, in several generally reliable collections, starting not later than 2007.
5
A later paraphrase of this quote by K. Hepburn is also popular.
124
On Love, Family, and Children