"Vanity of vanities! Admirable in the abstract; excellent at a safe distance; but to be tied to for life, bed and board, day light and candle light,—that's another thing."
"Even the tender and amiable,—is there risk even there?"
"One cloys on perpetual sweetmeats."
"And the domestic women?"
"Who incarcerate themselves in their nurseries, and have no brains but for their babies; who are frantic if the infant coughs, and are buried and lost among cradles, porringers, go-carts, pills, and prescriptions."
"The brilliant woman, then?"
"Brilliant at dinner tables and soirées; but, on the next day, your Corinne is disconsolate with a headache. Her wit is for the world,—her moods and mopings, caprices and lamentations,—those she keeps for her husband."
"You are a cynic. The woman of taste and genius; where do you place her?"
"What are the rude heart and brain of a man to such exalted susceptibilities? What homage is too much for him to render? Be a bond slave to the sweet enthusiast. Bow yourself before the delicate shrine. Do your devoirs; she will not bate you a jot."
"But there are in the world women governed by reason."