"On necessary and inevitable evils which overwhelm kingdoms at once
all disputation is vain; when they happen they must be endured.
But it is evident that these bursts of universal distress are more
dreaded than felt; thousands and tens of thousands flourish in
youth and wither in age, without the knowledge of any other than
domestic evils, and share the same pleasures and vexations, whether
their kings are mild or cruel, whether the armies of their country
pursue their enemies or retreat before them. While Courts are
disturbed with intestine competitions and ambassadors are
negotiating in foreign countries, the smith still plies his anvil
and the husbandman drives his plough forward; the necessaries of
life are required and obtained, and the successive business of the
season continues to make its wonted revolutions.

"Let us cease to consider what perhaps may never happen, and what,
when it shall happen, will laugh at human speculation. We will not
endeavour to modify the motions of the elements or to fix the
destiny of kingdoms. It is our business to consider what beings
like us may perform, each labouring for his own happiness by
promoting within his circle, however narrow, the happiness of
others.

"Marriage is evidently the dictate of Nature; men and women were
made to be the companions of each other, and therefore I cannot be
persuaded but that marriage is one of the means of happiness."

"I know not," said the Princess, "whether marriage be more than one
of the innumerable modes of human misery. When I see and reckon
the various forms of connubial infelicity, the unexpected causes of
lasting discord, the diversities of temper, the oppositions of