A Marriage Settlement quotes

Madame de Manerville died in 1810. Her husband, having learned by the dissipations of his youth the importance of money, and, like many old men, ascribing to it a greater power in life than it possesses, Monsieur de Manerville became progressively thrifty, avaricious, and mean.

Forgetting that stingy fathers make spendthrift sons, he allowed scarcely anything to his son, though he was an only child.

Paul de Manerville came home from college at Vendôme towards the end of 1810, and for three years lived under his father’s rule.

for his shyness found a field in any struggle which demanded persistent determination. Though capable of much to escape persecution, he would never have taken steps to hinder it by systematic antagonism, nor have met it by a steady display of strength.

A coward in mind, though bold in action, he preserved till late that unconfessed innocence which makes a man the victim, the voluntary dupe, of things against which such natures hesitate to rebel, preferring to suffer rather than complain.

He was a prisoner in his father’s old house, for he had not money enough to disport himself with the young men of the town; he envied them their amusements, but could not share them.

“Look round on our friends, and name one you would like for a son. We have known some who were a disgrace to their name.

Children, my dear boy, are a commodity very difficult to keep sweet.

—Yours will be angels! No doubt!

Listen.—As you are, you can say: ‘I will never be ridiculous beyond a certain point; the public shall never think of me excepting as I choose that it should think.’ Married, you will fall into depths of the ridiculous!—

Unmarried, you make your own happiness; you want it today, you do without tomorrow: married, you take it as it comes, and the day you seek it you have to do without it.

Married, you are an ass; you calculate marriage portions, you talk about public and religious morality, you look upon young men as immoral and dangerous; in short, you are socially Academical. I have nothing but pity for you!

I never looked into the Code, but I see how it works in the living organism of the world. I am a lawyer, as a clinical professor is a doctor.

The malady is not in books, it is in the patient.

—The Code, my friend, provides women with guardians, treats them as minors, as children. And how do we manage children? By fear. In that word, my dear Paul, you have the bit for the steed.—Feel your pulse, and say:

I would erect a beacon on the heap of sharp stones on which the votaries lie who devote themselves to the social multiplicamini. And yet—is the human race worth a quarter of an hour of my time?

Is not the sole rational use of pen and ink to ensnare hearts by writing love letters?

“So you will introduce us to the Comtesse de Manerville?”

Such speeches as these, constantly repeated by way of eulogium, extinguished the keenest desire a youth might feel to wed Mademoiselle Evangelista. The queen of every ball, surfeited with flattery, sure of smiles and admiration wherever she went, Natalie knew nothing of life.

She lived as birds fly, as flowers bloom, finding everyone about her ready to fulfil her least wish.

She knew nothing of the price of things, nor of how money is acquired or kept. She very likely supposed that every house was furnished with cooks and coachmen, maids and menservants, just as a field produces fodder and trees yield fruit.

Even if Paul had not been in love with Mademoiselle Natalie, the world would have married them whether or no.

The world, which is the cause of no good thing, is implicated in many disasters; then, when it sees the evil hatching out that it has so maternally brooded, it denies it and avenges it.

The upper society of Bordeaux, supposing Mademoiselle Evangelista to have a fortune of a million francs, handed her over to Paul without awaiting the consent of the parties concerned—as it often does. Their fortunes, like themselves, were admirably matched.

Mademoiselle Evangelista did not depart from the reserve of a fine lady who knows how to be charming and converse agreeably without allowing the slightest advance towards intimacy. This self-respect, rare among provincial folks, attracted Paul greatly.

Shy men are often touchy, unexpected suggestions alarm them. They flee even from happiness if it comes with much display, and are ready to accept unhappiness if it comes in a modest form, surrounded by gentle shades.

Hence Paul, seeing that Madame Evangelista made no effort to entrap him, ensnared himself.

but the deception is innocent and involuntary. Each, of course, stands in the best light; they are rivals as to which makes the most promising show, and at that time form a favorable idea of themselves which they cannot afterwards come up to.

Real life, like a changeable day, consists more often of the gray, dull hours when Nature is overcast than of the brilliant intervals when the sun gives glory and joy to the fields.

Young people look only at the fine days. Subsequently they ascribe the inevitable troubles of life to matrimony, for there is in man a tendency to seek the cause of his griefs in things or persons immediately at hand.

Her hands, like those of a Greek statue, confirmed the forecast of her face and form by showing a love of unreasoning dominion—Will for will’s sake. Her brows met in the middle, which, according to observers, indicates a disposition to jealousy.

The jealousy of noble souls becomes emulation and leads to great things; that of mean minds turns to hatred.

Her mother’s motto, Odiate e aspettate, was hers in all its strength.

If, without proceeding in the least too far, a little graciousness of manner might turn the scale?—A mere nothing, you know, a word?

Men are like that⁠—they can resist sound argument and yield to a glance.

”

Most of the townsfolk treated him with friendly respect and deference full of esteem. The notary’s voice won all hearts by the eloquent ring of honesty.

His only cunning consisted in going straight to the point, oversetting every evil thought by the directness of his questions.

His sharply observant eye, and his long experience of business, gave him that spirit of divination which allowed him to read consciences and discern the most secret thoughts. Though grave and quiet in business, this patriarch had the cheerfulness of our ancestors.

This rather singular interview was soon known, and confirmed the rumors to which the discussion of the contract had given rise.

In a provincial town everything is known.

The servants of the house, having heard loud voices, supposed the dispute to have been warmer than it was; their gossip with other folks’ servants spread far and wide, and from the lower depths came up to the masters.

Some said, Yes; others said, No. The two lawyers, on being questioned, denied these calumnies, and said that the difficulties were purely technical, arising from the formalities of creating an entail.

But when public opinion has rushed down an incline, it is very difficult to get it up again.

Though Paul went every day to Madame Evangelista’s, and in spite of the assertions of the two notaries, the insinuated slander held its own.

“And the expenses of the contract,” said Solonet.

Hatred, like love, is fed on the merest trifles. Everything adds to it.

Just as the one we love can do no wrong, the one we hate can do nothing right. Madame Evangelista scorned the hesitancy to which a natural reluctance gave rise in Paul as affected airs;

Hatred, like love, is fed on the merest trifles. Everything adds to it.

Just as the one we love can do no wrong, the one we hate can do nothing right.

Madame Evangelista scorned the hesitancy to which a natural reluctance gave rise in Paul as affected airs; while he, not knowing what to do with the jewel-cases, would have been glad to throw them out of the window.

She proposed to invest her capital in land after placing part of it in the State funds, purchasable at that time for about eighty francs.

A passion not unfrequently produces a complete change of character; the tattler turns diplomatic, the coward is suddenly brave.

Hatred made the prodigal Madame Evangelista turn parsimonious. Money might help her in the schemes of revenge, as yet vague and ill-defined, which she proposed to elaborate. She went to sleep, saying to herself:

What far-reaching importance would a hint of advice have on a mind thus prepared!

The whole future might be modified by a sentence.

No code, no human constitution can forefend the moral crime of killing by a word. That is the weak point of social forms of justice. That is where the difference lies between the world of fashion and the people; these are outspoken, those are hypocrites;

What far-reaching importance would a hint of advice have on a mind thus prepared! The whole future might be modified by a sentence.

No code, no human constitution can forefend the moral crime of killing by a word.

That is the weak point of social forms of justice. That is where the difference lies between the world of fashion and the people; these are outspoken, those are hypocrites; these snatch the knife, those use the poison of words and suggestions;

for such an agreement of two characters as has enabled you and me to live together as friends is a rare exception. And perpetual friction is not less to be avoided between parents and children than between husband and wife.

There are few natures in which love can survive in spite of omnipresence; that miracle is the prerogative of God.

“So, place the barriers of society between you and Paul; go to balls, to the opera, drive out in the morning, dine out in the evening, pay visits; do not give Paul more than a few minutes of your time.

hence, if you do not lead your husband to share your outside pleasures, if you do not amuse him, in short, you will sink into the most crushing lethargy. Then begins the spleen of love.

But we always love those who amuse us or make us happy.

To give and to receive happiness are two systems of wifely conduct between which a gulf lies.”

go to balls, to the opera, drive out in the morning, dine out in the evening, pay visits; do not give Paul more than a few minutes of your time. By this system you will never lose your value in his eyes.

When two beings have nothing but sentiment to go through life on, they soon exhaust its resources, and ere long satiety and disgust ensue.

Then, when once the sentiment is blighted, what is to be done? Make no mistake; when love is extinct, only indifference or contempt ever fills its place. So be always fresh and new to him.

Make no mistake; when love is extinct, only indifference or contempt ever fills its place. So be always fresh and new to him. If he bores you—that may occur—at any rate, never bore him.

To submit to boredom on occasion is one of the conditions of every form of power.

You will have no occasion to vary your happiness either by thrift in money matters or the management of a household;

“What Paul feels for you at this moment is far more desire than love; for the love to which desire gives rise is hope, and that which follows its gratification is realization. There, my dear, lies your power, there is the heart of the question.

What woman is not loved the day before marriage? Be still loved the day after, and you will be loved for life.

Paul is weak; he will be easily formed by habit; if he yields once, he will yield always. A woman not yet won may insist on anything.

I, my child, governed by faith. If your husband believes in you, you may do anything. To inspire him with this religion, you must convince him that you understand him. And do not think that this is such an easy matter.

A woman can always prove that she loves a man, but it is more difficult to get him to confess that she has understood him.

I must tell you everything, my child; for, to you, life with all its complications, a life in which two wills are to be reconciled and harmonized, will begin tomorrow. Do you realize the difficulty?

I must tell you everything, my child; for, to you, life with all its complications, a life in which two wills are to be reconciled and harmonized, will begin tomorrow. Do you realize the difficulty?

The best way to bring two wills into agreement is to take care that there is but one in the house.

People often say that a woman makes trouble for herself by this inversion of the parts; but, my dear, the wife is thus in a position to command events instead of submitting to them, and that single advantage counterbalances every possible disadvantage.”

… evening spent with the four witnesses whom Madame Evangelista had invited to the lengthy dinner which followed the legal ceremony, at midnight the young couple and their friends attended mass by the light of blazing tapers in the presence of above a hundred curious spectators.

A wedding celebrated at night always seems of ill omen; daylight is a symbol of life and enjoyment, and its happy augury is lacking.

Ask the staunchest spirit the cause of this chill, why the dark vault depresses the nerves, why the sound of footsteps is so startling, why the cry of owls and bats is so strangely audible. Though there is no reason for alarm, everyone quakes;

“

I knew that I was marching on an abyss, but I went, my brow wreathed with joys and feelings unknown to vulgar souls.

I acted like the lovers who shut themselves up for a year or two in a cottage by a lake, vowing to kill themselves after plunging into the ocean of happiness, dying in all the glory of their illusions and their passion.

I have always thought such persons eminently rational. You have never known anything of my pleasures or of my sacrifices.

And is there not exquisite enjoyment in concealing from the one we love the cost of the things she wishes for?

“I may tell you these secrets now. I shall be far indeed away when you hold this sheet loaded with my love.

Be always the child I have seen sleeping! If you were to betray my blind confidence—Natalie, you would not have to fear my anger, of that you may be sure; I should die without a word.

But a woman does not deceive the husband who leaves her free, for women are never mean.

She may cheat a tyrant; but she does not care for the easy treason which would deal a deathblow. No, I cannot imagine such a thing—forgive me for this cry, natural to a man.

“Augustine gave me your letter.—A letter from you, when we had slept together! It was a tragedy in itself. I was seized with a shivering fit—then I read it—I read it in tears, and my mother too melted into tears.

And a woman must love a man very much to cry over him, crying makes us so ugly.

—I was half dead. So much love and so much courage! So much happiness and such great grief! To be unable to clasp you to my heart, my beloved, at the very moment when my admiration for your magnanimity most constrained me!

and here it is! After such delights, so carefully screened from the eyes of the curious; after these constant festivities, varied only by the secret madness of our affection, there is no alternative but solitude.

Solitude, my dear one, feeds great passions, and I long for it.

What can I do in the world of fashion; to whom should I report my triumphs?

and he went over them all, one by one, to account for this promise of a child.

The happier a man is, the greater are his fears.

In souls that are exclusively tender—and a tender nature is generally a little weak—jealousy and disquietude are usually in direct proportion to happiness and to its greatness. Strong souls are neither jealous nor easily frightened: jealousy is doubt, and fear is small-minded.

The happier a man is, the greater are his fears. In souls that are exclusively tender—and a tender nature is generally a little weak—jealousy and disquietude are usually in direct proportion to happiness and to its greatness.

Strong souls are neither jealous nor easily frightened: jealousy is doubt, and fear is small-minded.

Belief without limits is the leading attribute of a high-minded man; if he is deceived—and strength as well as weakness may make him a dupe—his scorn serves him as a hatchet, and he cuts through everything. Such greatness is exceptional.

In souls that are exclusively tender—and a tender nature is generally a little weak—jealousy and disquietude are usually in direct proportion to happiness and to its greatness. Strong souls are neither jealous nor easily frightened: jealousy is doubt, and fear is small-minded.

Belief without limits is the leading attribute of a high-minded man; if he is deceived⁠—and strength as well as weakness may make him a dupe⁠—his scorn serves him as a hatchet, and he cuts through everything.

Such greatness is exceptional. Which of us has not known what it is to be deserted by the spirit that upholds this frail machine, and to hear only the unknown voice that denies everything?

Belief without limits is the leading attribute of a high-minded man; if he is deceived—and strength as well as weakness may make him a dupe—his scorn serves him as a hatchet, and he cuts through everything. Such greatness is exceptional.

Which of us has not known what it is to be deserted by the spirit that upholds this frail machine, and to hear only the unknown voice that denies everything?

Paul, caught as it were in the toils of certain undeniable facts, doubted and believed both at once.

Lost in thought, a prey to terrible but involuntary questionings, and yet struggling with the proofs of true affection and his belief in Natalie, he read this discursive epistle through twice, unable to come to any conclusion for or against his wife.

Love may be as great in wordiness as in brevity of expression.

Thoroughly to understand Paul’s frame of mind, he must be seen floating on the ocean as on the wide expanse of the past;

I knew what the consequence would be; I persisted in shutting my eyes, for I could not bear to say to my wife, ‘Let us leave Paris and go to live at Lanstrac’

I have ruined myself for her, as a man ruins himself for a mistress, but knowing it.

“Between you and me, I am neither a simpleton nor weak. A simpleton does not allow himself to be governed, with his eyes open, by an absorbing passion;

Some delicate women die of this exhausting round; those who survive must have iron constitutions, and consequently very little heart and very strong stomachs. Herein lies the reason of the want of feeling, the cold atmosphere of drawing-room society.

Nobler souls dwell in solitude; the tender and weak succumb.

What are left are the boulders which keep the social ocean within bounds by enduring to be beaten and rolled by the breakers without wearing out. Your wife was made to withstand this life; she seemed inured to it; she was always fresh and beautiful.

You have it, or you have it not. Of what avail are rivers of blood, or the mines of Potosi, or the greatest glory, to produce an involuntary and inexplicable feeling?

Young men like you, who look for love to balance their outlay, seem to me base usurers.

Our legal wives owe us children and virtue; but they do not owe love. Love is the consciousness of happiness given and received, and the certainty of giving and getting it; it is an ever-living attraction, constantly satisfied, and yet insatiable.

Of what avail are rivers of blood, or the mines of Potosi, or the greatest glory, to produce an involuntary and inexplicable feeling? Young men like you, who look for love to balance their outlay, seem to me base usurers.

Our legal wives owe us children and virtue; but they do not owe love.

Love is the consciousness of happiness given and received, and the certainty of giving and getting it; it is an ever-living attraction, constantly satisfied, and yet insatiable.

Young men like you, who look for love to balance their outlay, seem to me base usurers. Our legal wives owe us children and virtue; but they do not owe love.

Love is the consciousness of happiness given and received, and the certainty of giving and getting it; it is an ever-living attraction, constantly satisfied, and yet insatiable.

On the day when Vandenesse stirred in your wife’s heart the chord you had left untouched and virginal, your amorous flourishes, your outpouring of soul, and of money, ceased even to be remembered. Your nights of happiness strewn with roses—fudge! Your devotion—an offering of remorse.

Hence, I could only think of you as a case of unrequited passion. Well, on my word of honor, in the existing circumstances, you have played the nobler part, and you have lost nothing, as you might imagine, in my opinion.

Though I admire a great scoundrel, I esteem and like those who are taken in.

“Apropos to the doctor who came to such a bad end, brought to the scaffold by his love for his mistress, I remember telling you the far more beautiful story of the unhappy lawyer who is still living on the hulks, I know not where, …

I am starting on a political career. Within five years I mean to have a Minister’s portfolio, or find myself an ambassador where I can stir public affairs round in my own way.

There is an age when a man’s fairest mistress is his country.

I am joining the ranks of those who mean to overthrow not merely the existing Ministry, but their whole system.

After thirty-five years of slumber, my highly-respected mother woke up to the recollection that she had a son who might do her honor.

Often when a vine-stock is eradicated, some years after shoots come up to the surface of the ground; well, my dear boy, my mother had almost torn me up by the roots from her heart, and I sprouted again in her head.

At the age of fifty-eight, she thinks herself old enough to think no more of any men but her son.