Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
If men married women they truly deserved, the marriage would be disastrous.
In plain terms
Marrying the women we deserve would lead to a bad time.
What can you take from it?
Reflect on what we truly deserve in partners.

Where it applies

  • relationship advice
  • self‑reflection

Putting it to work

  • evaluate partner choices
  • avoid unrealistic expectations

Questions to consider

  • What makes a partner 'deserved'?
  • Can we change what we deserve?

Another view

It suggests a deterministic view of compatibility.

More from Oscar Wilde

  1. My dear father, when one pays a visit it is for the purpose of wasting other people's time, not one's own.

    Permalink to quote #190
  2. I don't at all like knowing what people say of me behind my back. It makes me far too conceited.

    Permalink to quote #192
  3. Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life. Mothers are different. Mothers are darlings.

    Permalink to quote #189

Related quotes

  1. 'Husbands are like fires - they go out when unattended.'

    Zsa Zsa GaborZsa Zsa Gabor quote #1
  2. Marriage? That's for life! It's like cement!

    Woody AllenWoody Allen quote #1
  3. At every party there are two kinds of people, those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other.

    Ann LandersAnn Landers quote #2