some wives perverse, and, as it is always more easy to do evil than
good, though the wisdom or virtue of one can very rarely make many
happy, the folly or vice of one makes many miserable."

"If such be the general effect of marriage," said the Prince, "I
shall for the future think it dangerous to connect my interest with
that of another, lest I should be unhappy by my partner's fault."

"I have met," said the Princess, "with many who live single for
that reason, but I never found that their prudence ought to raise
envy. They dream away their time without friendship, without
fondness, and are driven to rid themselves of the day, for which
they have no use, by childish amusements or vicious delights. They
act as beings under the constant sense of some known inferiority
that fills their minds with rancour and their tongues with censure.
They are peevish at home and malevolent abroad, and, as the outlaws
of human nature, make it their business and their pleasure to
disturb that society which debars them from its privileges. To
live without feeling or exciting sympathy, to be fortunate without
adding to the felicity of others, or afflicted without tasting the
balm of pity, is a state more gloomy than solitude; it is not
retreat but exclusion from mankind. Marriage has many pains, but
celibacy has no pleasures."

"What then is to be done?" said Rasselas. "The more we inquire the
less we can resolve. Surely he is most likely to please himself
that has no other inclination to regard."