I was very unwilling to enter into it, as you may imagine, without the knowledge and approbation of his mother; but I was too young and loved him too well to be so prudent as I ought to have been

and when his approbation of Rosamond's engagement was asked for, he gave it with astonishing facility, passing at once to general remarks on the desirableness of matrimony for young men and maidens, and apparently deducing from the whole the appropriateness of a little more punch.

and speak less incompletely. Rosamond had to make her little confession, and he poured out words of gratitude and tenderness with impulsive lavishment.

Because polygamous marriages are not recognized by the state -- imams who conduct them are subject to punishment -- the wives have no legal status, making them vulnerable when marriages turn violent. Yet the local authorities here typically turn a blind eye because the practice is viewed as a tradition.

MARRIAGE

Not everyone is meant to be in marriage-that is between husband and wife. That is not the appropriate expression of marriage for everybody. However, a relationship based upon Knowledge, recognition and purpose is meant for everyone. When you have experienced that, you will realize that your life is greater than your personality. It will be an experience that will be very confirming for you. Out of this relationship will come devotion, which is the highest expression of love in the world. Devotion is a quality that is very rare. It is not to be confused with obligation or bondage of any kind. It is a free gift that is essential to give.

True marriage is something that is a source of nourishment for other people as well as for the two people involved.

Chapter 5 MARRIAGE

“Dorian, Dorian,” she cried, “before I knew you, acting was the one reality of my life. It was only in the theatre that I lived. I thought that it was all true. I was Rosalind one night, and Portia the other. The joy of Beatrice was my joy, and the sorrows of Cordelia were mine also.56 I believed in everything. The common people who acted with me seemed to me to be godlike. The painted scenes were my world. I knew nothing but shadows, and I thought them real. You came,—oh, my beautiful love!—and you freed my soul from prison. You taught me what reality really is. To-night, for the first time in my life, I saw through the hollowness, the sham, the silliness, of the empty pageant in which I had always played. To-night, for the first time, I became conscious that the Romeo was hideous, and old, and painted, that the moonlight in the orchard was false, that the scenery was vulgar, and that the words I had to speak were unreal, were not my words, not what I wanted to say. You had brought me something higher, something of which all art is but a reflection. You have made me understand what love really is. My love! my love! I am sick of shadows. You are more to me than all art can ever be.

The real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish. And unselfish people are colorless. They lack individuality.

Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed.

Even marriage itself was regarded as a covenant. Connecticut granted nearly a thousand divorces between 1670 and 1799.

But the marriage equality movement has been curiously hostile to polygamy, and for a particularly unsatisfying reason: short-term political need.

Cyrus sent a message with a pretence of wanting her for his wife,