Quotation by

Ambrose Bierce

Marriage, n: the state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two.

Ambrose Bierce

Marriage

Understanding this quote AI Analysis

Ambrose Bierce sarcastically describes marriage as a relationship where both partners act like owners controlling each other, while also feeling trapped like slaves. He highlights the contradiction by saying these four roles—master, mistress, and two slaves—actually add up to just two people.

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A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.

It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.

How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being.

Don't marry the person you think you can live with marry only the individual you think you can't live without.

A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.