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"