We are, for all our polish, of little stature, and, as human lives, compared with authentic martyrs, of no account. - W. H. Auden

Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, however passionate.

Will it come like a change in the weather?
Will its greeting be courteous or rough?
Will it alter my life altogether?
O tell me the truth about love.

Without art, we should have no notion of the sacred; without science, we should always worship false gods.