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Children Quote by Guy de Maupassant

“It is love that is sacred," she said." Listen, child, to an old woman who has seen three generations, and who has had a long experience of men and women. Marriage and love have nothing in common. We marry to found a family, and we form families in order to constitute society. Society cannot…” quote by Guy de Maupassant
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““It is love that is sacred," she said." Listen, child, to an old woman who has seen three generations, and who has had a long experience of men and women. Marriage and love have nothing in common. We marry to found a family, and we form families in order to constitute society. Society cannot dispense with marriage. If society is a chain, each family is a link in that chain. In order to weld those links, we always seek metals of the same order. When we marry, we must bring together suitable conditions; we must combine fortunes, unite similiar races and aim at the common interest, which is riches and children. We marry only once, my child, because the world requires us to do so, but we love twenty times in one lifetime because nature has made us like this. Marriage, you see, is law and love is an instinct which impels us, sometimes along a straight, and sometimes along a devious path. The world has made laws to combat our instincts- it was necessary to make them; but our instincts are always stronger, and we ought not to resist them too much, because they come from God; while laws come from men. If we did not perfume life with love, as much love as possible,darling, as we put sugar into drugs for children, nobody would care to take it just as it is.””

Guy de Maupassant

About This Quote

Source Novel: “The Necklace” (or similar short story collection) by Guy de Maupassant, 19th century

Marriage is portrayed as a social contract for stability, while love is an instinctual, frequent, and divine impulse that often conflicts with societal rules.

In simple terms: Marriage is social; love is natural and frequent.

Key Takeaway

Balance societal duties with personal passions.

Themes

society love marriage instincts law

Mood

reflective critical

Type

philosophical social commentary

When to use this quote

  • family planning
  • relationship counseling
  • cultural anthropology
  • legal reform

Key Concepts

social contract instinctual drive economic alliance

Questions to Reflect On

  • How can individuals honor both social obligations and personal love?
  • What compromises are acceptable between law and instinct?
A Different Perspective

Love may conflict with legal constraints and economic realities.

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