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Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.
George Bernard Shaw
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Marriage offers certain advantages to the lower classes that are unavailable to the upper classes, including the ease of separation.

In this quote, George Bernard Shaw critiques the institution of marriage by highlighting the concept of social class and its implications on personal relationships. He suggests that for those in the lower classes, marriage can be more practical, as they may have easier paths to divorce compared to the complexities and expectations faced by the upper classes, who might be trapped by societal norms and obligations.

Themes

MarriageClassRelationshipsDesertionSocial Class

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about the evolving nature of relationships in society.

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I feel nothing but the accursed happiness I have dreaded all my life long: the happiness that comes as life goes, the happiness of yielding and dreaming instead of resisting and doing, the sweetness of the fruit that is going rotten.
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