“If they had only themselves to consider, lovers would not need to marry, but they must think of others and of other things. They say their vows to the community as much as to one another, and the community gathers around them to hear and to wish them well, on their behalf and its own. It gathers around them because it understands how necessary, how joyful, and how fearful this joining is. These lovers, pledging themselves to one another "until death," are giving themselves away, and they are joined by this as no law or contract could join them.” IfsThinkingNeedsGivingWellsLawWishCommunityLoversContractsFearfulJoyfulBehalfVowJoining Author:Wendell Berry
“Some of the nations of Europe who believe in the one wife system have actually forbidden a plurality of wives by their laws; and the consequences are that the whole country among them is overrun with the most abominable practices: adulteries and unlawful connections through all their villages, towns, cities, and country places to a most fearful extent.” BelieveCountryWholeLawNationsCitiesPracticeWifeConsequenceEuropeConnectionsTownsVillageFearfulForbiddenAdulteryPolygamyUnlawfulCity And Country Author:Orson Pratt