Marriage Autonomy Quotes

It is he who has broken the bond of marriage - not I. I only break its bondage.

Marriage partners, not government, should define the terms and spiritual orientation of their union in accordance with our nation's guarantee of religious freedom.

No widow shall be compelled to marry ... while she chooses to live without a husband.

It is not the men who choose the maids, but the maids themselves who take the husbands they like, and when they like.

I have had a couple of marriages, but like every other woman I had a perfect right to them.

When I say, 'The choice to not marry,' that doesn't always translate into, 'I am a woman, and I am deciding that I am not going to get married,' or 'I am rejecting marriage.'

I shan't marry a prince!

Marriage must cease to be a matter of arrangement made by parents for money.

In the 18th century, people began to adopt the radical new idea that love should be the most fundamental reason for marriage and that young people should be free to choose their marriage partners independently.

The capacity of women to make unsuitable marriages must be considered as the cornerstone of society.

You live with someone, you make a commitment to honor them, respect them, and love them, and if you're going to have children, then you make a commitment to raise those children together. Why does the state have to get involved with that?

My parents have a wonderful marriage, but they have been together since my mother was 12, married when they were just teenagers and are barely ever separated. They even work together. As a result, I have always thought of marriage as involving the loss of a certain amount of autonomy.

Why do people - gay or straight - need the state's permission to marry? For most of Western history, they didn't, because marriage was a private contract between two families. The parents' agreement to the match, not the approval of church or state, was what confirmed its validity.

I certainly believe that I have no right to tell another couple whether they can or cannot be married.