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About this quote

What does it mean?
Ingersoll defines real marriage as a natural union of hearts, with ceremonies merely announcing it to the world.
In plain terms
Real marriage is the bond of hearts made by nature; the ceremony just announces it.
What can you take from it?
Value the emotional bond over the formal ceremony.

Where it applies

  • wedding planning
  • relationship advice
  • social norms

Putting it to work

  • focus on connection
  • prioritize love
  • question rituals

Questions to consider

  • What makes a marriage real?
  • Do ceremonies matter?

Another view

It undervalues the legal and social protections ceremonies often provide.

More from Robert G. Ingersoll

  1. The one thing in this world that is constant, the one peak that rises above all clouds, the one window in which the light forever burns, the one star that dark…

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  2. The real marriage is based on mutual affection - the ceremony is but the outward evidence of the inward flame. To this contract there are but two parties. The …

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  3. The old doctrine that God wanted man to do something for him, and that he kept a watchful eye upon all the children of men; that he rewarded the virtuous and p…

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