Sunday, June 08, 2008


But marriage, if comfortable, is not at all heroic. It certainly narrows and damps the spirit of generous men. In marriage, a man becomes slack and selfish, and undergoes a fatty degeneration of his moral being…..The air of the fireside withers out all the fire wildings of the husband’s heart. He is so comfortable and happy that he begins to prefer comfort and happiness to everything else on earth, his wife included. Yesterday he would have shared his last shilling; today, “his first duty is to his family,” and is fulfilled in large measure by laying down vintages and husbanding the health of an invaluable parent. Twenty years ago this man was equally capable of crime or heroism; now he is fit for neither. His soul is asleep, and you may speak without constraint; you will not wake him.”
From Robert Louis Stevenson, a little cynicism, a little tongue in cheek and some truth.
Photo by Wojtek Aleksandrowicz Reymont

3 comments:

Unknown said...

ugh....that is brutal...but oh so painfully true. I see it all the time...and hear the cry of many a man's heart that know it is true. I'm stealing that one.

Joseph Pulikotil said...

This is absolutely true because most men want a comfortable, easy life. Very few would like to venture into the unknown and take a risk.
Best wishes!

FCB said...

This post and both of your comments reminded me of a passage I read by Francis Bacon. I will post it next, I think you will both find it interesting.

By the way Joseph, FCB4 is one of my sons who lives here in Washington State.
Fred