William Shakespeare on Marriage
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“A world-without-end bargain.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“God, the best maker of all marriages, Combine your hearts in one.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“I will fasten on this sleeve of thine: Thou art an elm, my husband, I, a vine.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“The instances that second marriage move Are base respects of thrift, but none of love.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“If she deny to wed, I'll crave the day When I shall ask the banns and when be married.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“She is not well married that lives married long: But she's best married that dies married young.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, She married.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“As are those dulcet sounds in break of day That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear And summon him to marriage.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“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.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“Happiest of all, is, that her gentle spirit Commits itself to yours to be directed, As from her lord, her governor, her king.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“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.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd, Than that which with'ring on the virgin thorn Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“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.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“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.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“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.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“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.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“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.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“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.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“Then let thy love be younger than thyself, Or thy affection cannot hold the bent: For women are as roses, whose fair flower Being once display'd, doth fall that very hour.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“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.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“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.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“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.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“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.”
- William Shakespeare, S)