---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If it is right to be legally married, it…"
description: "\"If it is right to be legally married, it is right to be legally divorced ... To be deprived of a Divorce is like being shut up in prison because someon..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/mary-edwards-walker-48592_deprived_if-it-is-right-to-be-legally-married-it_1870665.jpg"
---

#  If it is right to be legally married, it is right to be…

![“If it is right to be legally married, it is right to be legally divorced ... To be deprived of a Divorce is like being shut up in prison because someone attempted to kill you. It is just as honorable to get out of matrimonial trouble legally, as to be freed from any other wrong.” quote by Mary Edwards Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/mary-edwards-walker-48592_deprived_if-it-is-right-to-be-legally-married-it_1870665.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/mary-edwards-walker-48592_deprived_if-it-is-right-to-be-legally-married-it_1870665.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/mary-edwards-walker-48592_deprived_if-it-is-right-to-be-legally-married-it_1870665.jpg)

> “If it is right to be legally married, it is right to be legally divorced ... To be deprived of a Divorce is like being shut up in prison because someone attempted to kill you. It is just as honorable to get out of matrimonial trouble legally, as to be freed from any other wrong.”

[Mary Edwards Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-edwards-walker/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Legal marriage and divorce should be treated equally; denying divorce is an unjust confinement akin to imprisonment for the innocent.

**In simple terms:** Divorce should be as accessible as marriage.

Key Takeaway

Advocate fair divorce laws.

Themes

equality justice marriage divorce rights

Mood

determined advocacy

Type

political ethical

When to use this quote

- courtroom
- family counseling
- legislative reform
- personal crisis

Key Concepts

Legal rights gender equality civil liberty

Questions to Reflect On

- How does denying divorce affect personal freedom?
- What legal safeguards can protect both parties?

A Different Perspective

Divorce may still involve emotional and financial hardship.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Divorce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/divorce/) [Marriage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marriage/) [Prison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prison/)

## Related quotes

> [It's ludicrous that my friends in California aren't able to legally get married. It's a civil rights issue. In 20 years we're going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/busy-philipps/it-s-ludicrous-that-my-friends-in-california-aren-t-able-to-legally/)

[Busy Philipps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/busy-philipps/)

> [To know that I can now be legally MARRIED and have the same rights as the rest of America, makes this the best day…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-know-that-i-can-now-be-legally-married-and-have-the-same-rights-as/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [May was young and beautiful, we were legally married, but she was caught in the prison of my skin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sammy-davis-jr/may-was-young-and-beautiful-we-were-legally-married-but-she-was/)

[Sammy Davis, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sammy-davis-jr/)

> [I think there's tremendous significance and opportunity in Americans seeing legally married gay couples treated with respect in our nation's capital.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-wolfson/i-think-there-s-tremendous-significance-and-opportunity-in-americans/)

[Evan Wolfson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-wolfson/)

> [I'm still picking pockets--I just do it as legally as I can. Being married to a cop limits certain activities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-m-still-picking-pockets-i-just-do-it-as-legally-as-i-can-being/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Morality consists of suspecting other people of not being legally married.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/morality-consists-of-suspecting-other-people-of-not-being-legally/)

[George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/)

> [God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married, only if they so are in love with each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manny-pacquiao/god-only-expects-man-and-woman-to-be-together-and-to-be-legally/)

[Manny Pacquiao](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manny-pacquiao/)

> [I look forward to exercising my American civil liberties and getting fully, completely and legally married this year to my true love of over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-etheridge/i-look-forward-to-exercising-my-american-civil-liberties-and-getting/)

[Melissa Etheridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-etheridge/)

> [I absolutely love you, Briony, and I am on my knees. So we're getting married - right? But say it fast before we get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-feehan/i-absolutely-love-you-briony-and-i-am-on-my-knees-so-we-re-getting/)

[Christine Feehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-feehan/)

> [I've been married three times - and each time I married the right person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/i-ve-been-married-three-times-and-each-time-i-married-the-right-person/)

[Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/)

> [I got married because it was the right time and the right thing to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dj-jazzy-jeff/i-got-married-because-it-was-the-right-time-and-the-right-thing-to-do/)

[DJ Jazzy Jeff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dj-jazzy-jeff/)

> [I've been mainly a happy boy in my life. I married the right girl and we did what we wanted to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-ford/i-ve-been-mainly-a-happy-boy-in-my-life-i-married-the-right-girl-and/)

[Richard Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-ford/)

> [I have no personal desire to get married whatsoever and I certainly have no desire to be a soldier. I'm old school, I'm from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cleve-jones/i-have-no-personal-desire-to-get-married-whatsoever-and-i-certainly/)

[Cleve Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cleve-jones/)

> [There's a lot of luck involved in getting married to the right woman.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-buffer/there-s-a-lot-of-luck-involved-in-getting-married-to-the-right-woman/)

[Michael Buffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-buffer/)

> [I have no way of knowing whether or not you married the wrong person. But I do know that if you treat the wrong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zig-ziglar/i-have-no-way-of-knowing-whether-or-not-you-married-the-wrong-person/)

[Zig Ziglar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zig-ziglar/)

## More by Mary Edwards Walker

> [Let the generations know that women in uniform also guaranteed their freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-edwards-walker/let-the-generations-know-that-women-in-uniform-also-guaranteed-their/)

[Mary Edwards Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-edwards-walker/)

> [You must come to terms with the reality that nothing outside ourselves, be it people or things is actually responsible for our happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-edwards-walker/you-must-come-to-terms-with-the-reality-that-nothing-outside/)

[Mary Edwards Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-edwards-walker/)

> [ A woman reasons by telegraph, and his \[a man's\] stage-coach reasoning cannot keep pace with hers. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-edwards-walker/a-woman-reasons-by-telegraph-and-his-a-man-s-stage-coach-reasoning/)

[Mary Edwards Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-edwards-walker/)

> [I fired the ball for the purpose of giving those dudes to understand upon what ground I stood, believing that those of this class…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-edwards-walker/i-fired-the-ball-for-the-purpose-of-giving-those-dudes-to-understand/)

[Mary Edwards Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-edwards-walker/)

> [ You \[men\] are not our protectors… If you were, who would there be to protect us from? ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-edwards-walker/you-men-are-not-our-protectors-if-you-were-who-would-there-be-to/)

[Mary Edwards Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-edwards-walker/)

> [ \[On her wearing pants:\] The greatest sorrows from which women suffer today are those physical, moral and mental ones, that are caused by their… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-edwards-walker/on-her-wearing-pants-the-greatest-sorrows-from-which-women-suffer/)

[Mary Edwards Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-edwards-walker/)

> [ You \[men\] are our protectors, is not true; for if you were, who would there be to protect us from? ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-edwards-walker/you-men-are-our-protectors-is-not-true-for-if-you-were-who-would/)

[Mary Edwards Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-edwards-walker/)

[Explore all 8 Mary Edwards Walker quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-edwards-walker/)

## More Deprived quotes

> [There are times when we can feel destiny close around us like a fist around a doorknob. Sure, we can resist. But a knob…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/there-are-times-when-we-can-feel-destiny-close-around-us-like-a-fist/)

[Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/)

> [It required unusual inquisitiveness to pursue the development of scientific curiosities such as charged pith balls, the voltaic cell, and the electrostatic machine. Without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-seitz/it-required-unusual-inquisitiveness-to-pursue-the-development-of/)

[Frederick Seitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-seitz/)

> [My intentions go one way, my desires another. Thus I feel both self-indulgent and deprived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/my-intentions-go-one-way-my-desires-another-thus-i-feel-both-self/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [No poor, rural, weak, or black person should ever again have to bear the additional burden of being deprived of the opportunity for an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-carter/no-poor-rural-weak-or-black-person-should-ever-again-have-to-bear-the/)

[Jimmy Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-carter/)

> [I have received delegations of working men who, apparently speaking with the utmost sincerity, have declared that they would regard it as a genuine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woodrow-wilson/i-have-received-delegations-of-working-men-who-apparently-speaking/)

[Woodrow Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woodrow-wilson/)

> [The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say. Most of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/the-role-of-the-writer-is-not-to-say-what-we-can-all-say-but-what-we/)

[Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/)

> [If we are deprived of hope as well as fear, we are compensated by being given an almost endless patience for enduring or simply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-wood-krutch/if-we-are-deprived-of-hope-as-well-as-fear-we-are-compensated-by/)

[Joseph Wood Krutch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-wood-krutch/)

> [Yes, I was deprived of sleep, especially during the first few days, ... However, there was nothing physical, no touching or anything like that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/yes-i-was-deprived-of-sleep-especially-during-the-first-few-days/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Any system that is deprived of its natural volatility, with government up (unintelligible) volatile, any system becomes very fragile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/any-system-that-is-deprived-of-its-natural-volatility-with-government/)

[Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/)

> [Women have been charged with deviousness and duplicity since the dawn of civilization so they have never been able to pretend that their masks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/women-have-been-charged-with-deviousness-and-duplicity-since-the-dawn/)

[Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/)

> [The people of Liberia know what it means to be deprived of clean water, but we also know what it means to see our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-johnson-sirleaf/the-people-of-liberia-know-what-it-means-to-be-deprived-of-clean/)

[Ellen Johnson Sirleaf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-johnson-sirleaf/)

> [the greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-greater-the-bureaucratization-of-public-life-the-greater-will-be/)

[Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/)

> [ ... deprived of pain, and also deprived of danger, able to do what it wants, \[Nature\] does not need us, nor understands our deserts,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucretius/deprived-of-pain-and-also-deprived-of-danger-able-to-do-what-it-wants/)

[Lucretius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucretius/)

> [I think there is this sensation of being deprived of something that you are entitled to have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ingrid-betancourt/i-think-there-is-this-sensation-of-being-deprived-of-something-that/)

[Ingrid Betancourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ingrid-betancourt/)

> [Usage is like oxygen for ideas. That means every moment you're working on something without it being in the public it's actually dying, deprived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-mullenweg/usage-is-like-oxygen-for-ideas-that-means-every-moment-you-re-working/)

[Matt Mullenweg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-mullenweg/)

Browse all 424 Deprived quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "If it is right to be legally married, it is right to be legally divorced ... To be deprived of a Divorce is like being shut up in prison because someone attempted to kill you. It is just as honorable to get out of matrimonial trouble legally, as to be freed from any other wrong.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Mary Edwards Walker"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-edwards-walker/if-it-is-right-to-be-legally-married-it-is-right-to-be-legally/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Deprived"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-edwards-walker/if-it-is-right-to-be-legally-married-it-is-right-to-be-legally/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/mary-edwards-walker-48592_deprived_if-it-is-right-to-be-legally-married-it_1870665.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/mary-edwards-walker-48592_deprived_if-it-is-right-to-be-legally-married-it_1870665.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/722/mary-edwards-walker-48592_deprived_if-it-is-right-to-be-legally-married-it_1870665.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“If it is right to be legally married, it is right to be legally divorced ... To be deprived of a Divorce is…” — Mary Edwards Walker",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Mary Edwards Walker",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-edwards-walker/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "If it is right to be...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-edwards-walker/if-it-is-right-to-be-legally-married-it-is-right-to-be-legally/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-edwards-walker/if-it-is-right-to-be-legally-married-it-is-right-to-be-legally/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
