Be slow in choosing, especially with regard to wife or husband.
“Before your youth with marriage is oppressed,
Make choice of one who suits your humor best;
Such choicest damsel drops not from the sky,
She must, be sought for with a studious eye.”
An unwise marriage will prove to be a calamity.

Before you marry, have a house wherein to tarry.
One would think this advice unnecessary, but people are reckless nowadays.
We, hope our readers will not begin housekeeping with furniture on credit:
it is not creditable.

Pride with pride will not abide.

Marriage is either kill or cure.
It is either ‘mar age’ or ‘merry age’, as the case may be.
“O matrimony! you are like
To Jeremiah’s figs —
The good are very good indeed;
The bad too sour for pigs!”

Marry in a hurry, and live in a worry.
Take Time to Do That Which Time Cannot Undo.

MARRY IN HASTE, AND REPENT AT LEISURE.
Marriage is a desperate thing.
“The frogs in Aesop’s fable were extremely wise:
they greatly needed some water, but they would not
leap into the well because they could not get out again.
 Blessed is the man who can say, after twenty years:
“I did commit no act of folly,
When I married my sweet Molly.”

Right mixture makes good mortar.
Due proportion and thorough blending of
various graces make up good character.
Also in forming a marriage partnership a wise
arrangement and a good heart will secure lasting unity.

In marriage a fit blend is almost everything.
Once married, it is for better or worse, forever.

Don't be in a hurry to tie what you cannot untie.
Marriage is one of these things. Be careful!
"In choice of a friend
One may often amend
When he finds his affection misspent;
But in choosing a wife
A close partner for life,
There is left us no room to repent."

He who ‘courts in sport’ may be caught in earnest.
Many are caught in a marriage which he never intended,
which turns out a life-long bondage.

He who marries a fool is a fool.
He did not use sufficient discretion and discernment.
However, fool or no fool, he is in for it for life,
and must bear the consequences.

A good husband makes a good wife.
A gracious disposition in the one influences the other, and little faults are
almost insensibly cured. The proverb is equally true in reference to the wife,
but she has harder material to work upon, and sometimes she fails to make
her husband what he should be.

A rich man may make a poor husband.
Better to have a treasure in the man, than with the man.

Alas! Alas!  Wise men pass a dressy lass.
The Alas! is for the dressy lass who hoped to catch a husband by her fine array,
and saw all the men worth having turning away from her.

An obedient wife commands her husband.
By her love the good man is conquered,
 so that he delights to give her pleasure.

The house is the woman's dominion,
and her husband should let her reign, saying,
“Only in the throne will I be greater than you.”
He will be wise seldom to sit on that throne.

Buttons all right are husbands’ delight.
What vexation may be caused by neglect of such a little thing as a button!
Let wives think nothing trivial which tends to peace.

Dirty wives make drunken husbands.
Doubtless if the house or the room were kept more clean and comfortable,
the man would have less temptation to spend his evenings in drinking company.

Expensive wife makes pensive husband.
When the drapers bill drains his pocket,
the poor man thinks more than he dares to say.
The arithmetic of a good wife is very different.
She adds to his happiness, subtracts from his cares,
multiplies his joys, divides his sorrows, and practices
reduction in the expenditure of his household.

This “last word” business is a miserable one.
It would seem the best for both husband and wife to leave off
angry words at once, and so both hasten to have the last word.
As for the wife's being quite so humble as to speak only when she is
spoken to, the notion is a relic of savage life, and finds no echo in a
Christian manes head. Among true Christians the wife is the equal
of her husband, and is had in honor by him. The wife is not the head,
but she is the crown, and that is higher still.

‘Harry Heartless’ will make a bad husband.
Better let him remain a bachelor.

“Have the potatoes and bacon done,
And nice white cloth as the clock strikes one.”
The meals nicely cooked keep the husband in humor,
and prevent his seeking the pub and its temptations.

If Jack were better, Jill would not be so bad.
Often the husband creates the wife's faults, and vice versa.

If love finds fault, it is that fault may not be found by others.
This is the best reason for criticizing.

If your husband is a dog, donut be a cat.
If you are, you will lead a cat-and-dog life.

If you donut like crab-apples, donut plant crab-trees.
If you prefer peace and quietness, be peaceful and quiet.
Married people should not create causes for contention,
  lest contention should spoil their union.

Don't be fooled by pretty face; Look for character and grace.
Mere bodily beauty is like an almanac: if it lasts a year it is well.
Beauty and money are too fleeting a reason for marriage.

Strong is the vinegar of sweet wine.
When good-tempered men grow angry, it is auger.
When mercy kindles into wrath, it is terrible indeed.
When persons, who were very loving, disagree, the quarrel is often very sharp.
“Spoons before marriage may become knives and forks afterwards.”

Think well before you tie what you cannot untie.
Enter upon marriage with courage, but with caution.

Tarry, tarry, tarry, tarry,  Think again before you marry.
One might push this tarrying too far, but we seldom meet with such a case.
Most rush at matrimony like a dog at a piece of meat.

Taste and try before you buy.

Today married, tomorrow harried.

To catch a Tartar.
This is a bad thing in matrimony.
You look for a Celestial to make your tea,
and find a Tartar to make you a pickle.
Better be a lonely martyr
Than be married to a Tartar.

Wedlock is a padlock.
A padlock is a very useful thing to preserve treasure.
But it is hurtful to locked into a marriage much disliked.

Wedlock is either kill or cure.

A fair face may be a foul bargain.
Young men should not be carried away with mere beauty,
but look to character and disposition.
One who marries a woman for her beauty alone is as foolish
as the man who ate a bird because it sang so sweetly.

Nothing is surer than that one haughty man will fall out with another.
They will fight like Kilkenny cats.
Proud men hate pride in others. Because it is a sort of defiance to their own pride.
When once a man becomes a god to himself, he then becomes a devil to others.
He is so lifted up with pride that he plays the tyrant.
Because Nebuchadnezzar was so proud, he threw those
into a fiery furnace who would not obey his will.
Good to yourself, evil to others.

As married people grow old, the tendency to correct each other in every
trifling mistake is often developed; and it is so trying that they will be wise
to watch against it with the utmost care.

“Needles and pins, needles and pins
When a man marries, his trouble begins.”
A Quaker who married a couple said, “Now you are at the end of your troubles.”
Some time after, the afflicted husband reminded him of the saying, and charged
him with misleading him. “Nay,” said the Quaker, “I said you were at the end of
your troubles, but I did not say at which end.”

Obedient wives lead their husbands.
Sensible men know when they have good wives,
and they are glad to let them manage the house,
and lead them on to prosperity.

For husbands-- Instead of trying to reform your wife,
you will find it much more profitable to reform your wife's husband.

For wives-- instead of trying to reform your husband,
you will find it much more profitable to reform your husbands wife.

The plow goes badly when one ox pulls one way, and the other another.
When husband and wife are not of one mind, family arrangements are disarranged.

The wife that loves the looking-glass hates the saucepan.
This is not always true; yet the fear is that the folly which shows itself in
dress and self-admiration should lead to neglect of household duties.
Blessed is the wife that can cook well,
for she shall have her husband home to dinner.
 

Summary wisdom for husbands-
"Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives,
and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you
of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers." 1 Peter 3:7

Summary wisdom for wives-
"Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." Col. 3:18

Summary wisdom for all relationships-
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves
with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Col. 3:12

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Spurgeon Collection" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 314
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986