Arranged Marriage/Quotes

God's bread it makes me mad. Day, night, late, early,
At home, abroad, alone, in company,
Waking or sleeping, still my care hath been
To have her match'd; and having now provided
A gentleman of princely parentage,
Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly train'd,
Stuff'd, as they say, with honourable parts,
Proportion'd as one's thought would wish a man-
And then to have a wretched puling fool,
A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender,
To answer 'I'll not wed, I cannot love;

I am too young, I pray you pardon me'!

—William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

SIR,
I hope you will not think it is any manner of Disrespect to your Person or Merit, that the intended Nuptials between us are interrupted. My Father says he has a much better Offer for me than you can make, and has ordered me to break off the Treaty between us. If it had proceeded, I should have behaved my self with all suitable Regard to you, but as it is, I beg we may be Strangers for the future. Adieu.

LYDIA.

—Richard Steele, The Spectator

Love? What does love have to do with marriage?

—Londo Mollari, Babylon 5

Arranged marriages are still pretty common in these parts (and now I come to think of it, what other kinds are there? It's not as if the boy and the girl and all their relatives and a new dress and the priest of choice and a slap-up knife-and-fork tea for forty all turn up in one place by accident, is it?).

—Gytha Ogg, Nanny Ogg's Cookbook

Matchmaker, Matchmaker,Make me a match,Find me a find,catch me a catch
Matchmaker, Matchmaker look through your book,And make me a perfect match
Matchmaker, Matchmaker,I'll bring the veil,You bring the groom,
Slender and pale.Bring me a ring for I'm longing to be,
The envy of all I see.
For Papa, Make him a scholar.

For Mama, Make him rich as a king.

For me, well, I wouldn't holler If he were as handsome as anything.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make me a match,Find me a find,Catch me a catch,

Night after night in the dark I'm alone So find me match, Of my own.

Fiddler on the Roof